Remnants of a Forgotten Past
by The God of Pikmin
Summary: The Bijuu had a fail-safe to protect themselves from Akatsuki, but they weren't meant to lay there dormant long enough for the world to change so drastically. This new world of advanced technology and strange monsters was so alien to their hosts; they would be foolish to think they would be accepted so readily. This new world fears the Jinchuuriki, just like the old one.
1. Amber

So, recently I've had a rejuvenation on the fanfiction scene. While I was far from quitting writing, my update frequency for the past year or so have declined, and they weren't really all that great to begin with. I know about three years ago I wasn't going to publish any more new stories beyond my first five, but anyone who follows me knows that isn't true now. I was in a spot at that time where I just wanted to finish up and retire, no matter how long it took. I'm not in that spot anymore, and am more motivated than ever.

I've held off writing a Naruto/RWBY crossover for a while now, but now it just seemed inevitable that I would do one. I mean, my old fandom I've been writing in for six years now and my new fandom that I've come to love?

The only problem was that I don't take crossover choices so easily. My Naruto/Zelda one was made only after some careful consideration, and I've cancelled a few projects before I wrote them because the crossover wouldn't work, in my opinion. For the longest time this one also seemed like a "square peg, round hole" scenario.

It helps that I've read a few Naruto/RWBY crossovers that I feel are done well, and they inspired me to do my own take. This idea hit me like a ton of bricks today, so enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 1: Amber

In the barren crater that was once a proud civilization, there stood one monument to the past. Ten years after the return of Madara, ten years since the ninja world was leveled by the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, and the raging madman who could never have his plans realized.

Thirteen years since that failsafe ruined Akatsuki's plan, thirteen years since they had ruined centuries of careful planning and warring. It had unwittingly ruined the shinobi world, but the Bijuu would preserve their future, even as they and their hosts lay dormant. No matter how long they had to be in there, in the place where even Kaguya could not touch them. Not that she was around, the failsafe had ruined any chances of her ever being revived.

Their thought process was to better to be safe than sorry. Even they wouldn't be able to reverse it once the die was cast, for they too would be put into a state of hibernation. They had agreed to make it as strong as possible, in the hopes that it would last until the Akatsuki organization had folded, and even Kaguya's immortal life had wilted inside that moon..

If that cost them the shinobi world and their hosts their friends and family, then so be it. What the new world was like and what prolonged exposure to it would do to their hosts, the Bijuu had no idea. They had promised back during their creation if the situation got this bad, they would take countermeasures of their own accord without any regard or consultation from the Sage.

So, when the Akatsuki revealed themselves to the world and began to take action, the Bijuu instantly knew the motives behind that organization and telepathically coordinated their plan.

When Itachi and Kisame went for Naruto in that hotel, Kurama knew it was time to begin coordinating in secret with the others.

They put their plan into action simultaneously, before the Akatsuki could make any more moves and without any consultation from their Jinchuuriki. For Naruto and Kurama, it was some months into Naruto's absence from Konoha, during his trip with the Toad Sennin Jiraiya.

The master and apprentice had been staying at a hot spring's town, where Naruto would train and Jiraiya would work on his latest novel. One morning, at the hotel they were staying at, Jiraiya woke up to a rude surprise after spending the majority of the night passed out from a day's worth of... endeavors.

Tuckered out from his own training, Naruto was still perched in the position in which he had gone to sleep, clad in his orange jumpsuit and on top of his sleeping bag.

It would have been normal, except Naruto was encased in layer upon layer of what appeared to be solidified red-orange chakra. Like a pupa about to undergo metamorphosis, the dormant Genin could be seen underneath the slightly transparent nature of the chrysalis, but when Jiraiya saw him for the first time, he stumbled backward in shock, tripping over his own belongings and hitting the wall with a thud.

The boy was encased in a cocoon of chakra, appearing presumably overnight. It was a jutsu Jiraiya had never seen before in his life, if it even was a jutsu. Within the shell, Naruto looked asleep and peaceful, completely unaware of what was transpiring all around him. One would be forgiven for wondering if he was even alive.

Hundreds of miles away, in the Kaze no Kuni, the two older Sand Siblings would wake to a similar sight to what was occurring in the hot springs town. They would see their brother Gaara encased in his own sandy yellow cocoon of solid chakra, appearing to be asleep for the first time in his life. He was in the exact same predicament as Naruto.

Naruto's training trip was cancelled when the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki stayed in that state for an indefinite period of time. He did not awaken from within his capsule, nor did the surrounding chrysalis ever budge. A Rasengan tentatively applied to the edge of the cocoon was ineffective in even chipping some of it off, and any other jutsu Jiraiya tried to break through didn't make it budge.

The crystallized Naruto was brought back to Konoha at the befuddlement of Tsunade. Tirelessly, she worked hard with the best medical, scientific, and jutsu specialists in an attempt to crack this case, literally and figuratively.

Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu. Failure. The highest forms of sealing and unsealing as transcribed by Jiraiya. Failure. The best medical ninjutsu supervised by the world's leading medic-nin. Failure. They had never seen anything like it, and no procedure came close to solving the mystery. They couldn't even scrape off any sample of the cocoon to test it.

While Naruto remained in the basement of the hospital under heavy guard, an increasingly desperate Tsunade began to contact other villages, pleading with other leaders to lend their aid and help research this problem. Her mouth went dry went she learned the news about the other villages having problems with their own Jinchuuriki, in the exact same situation.

Crystals of chakra that harbor the Jinchuuriki, who appear to be sleeping. Every last one of them.

They were about to contact her for the same exact thing.

Eventually, Akatsuki completed its preparations and began hunting the nine Bijuu. Imagine their surprise when they came for Naruto again and found him in the state he was. They captured him beneath the watchful eye of Konoha and brought him back to one of their bases.

They tried unsealing the Bijuu using their planned methods, to no avail. They tried their own techniques, to no avail. Tobi and Pain reportedly threw a hissy fit for weeks after the fact.

Eventually, Konoha took Naruto back in the rescue mission of a lifetime, but failure after failure piled up. The chrysalis was utterly, completely and totally indestructible. The Fourth Great Shinobi War happened not too long afterward, and the ninja world became history because of it.

The ninja world fell into shambles. People in the aftermath slowly gave up on the idea of a ninja both as a mercenary and a soldier under a flag, with the daimyo of the nations disbanded the hidden villages after not finding it worthwhile to rebuild. The war had also left so many casualties that there was a lack of survivors to pass ninja techniques onto the next generation, with each ensuing one using them less and less before they faded out completely.

Konoha had been leveled in the war, and became ruins. Where the hospital once sat however, there was the crystallized cocoon with what appeared to be a young boy trapped inside, his eyes closed as though sleeping. For centuries, he stood as the singular monument and object intact in the ruins of Konoha, until the day came when erosion and weather catastrophe would end up burying the boy and the rest of the ruins deep within the earth.

The Bijuu underestimated their own ability.

The cocoon would hold, and Naruto and the other Jinchuuriki would lay dormant for eons as the ages flowed by. The cocoon would survive several thousands of times longer than the Bijuu had anticipated. Civilizations would rise and fall, their durations and peaks flowing by as mere seconds on the geological time scale. Eventually, the human race as the world knew it became extinct while the Jinchuuriki were preserved, only for a near identical species from the genus _Homo_ to evolve again from dust.

The chakra chrysalises would end up holding for over one hundred million years. All within that time frame, humanity would've gone extinct only to evolve again, the moon would shatter into pieces, Kaguya's immortal life would have been shot off into the depths of space in the ensuing cataclysm, and continental shift and climate change would alter the terrain and landscape intrinsically into a world completely unlike the old one.

* * *

 _The Border of Vacuo and Vale...  
_

When the leaders from centuries ago were drawing up borders, they must've been looking at simple geographical differences. While Atlas and Mistral were on separate continents and thus had natural borders with the ocean, Vacuo and Vale were on the same continent and thus had to fight like siblings over whose territory was what.

Vacuo, being the red-headed stepchild of Remnant's kingdoms, was left with miles and miles of useless desert, while Vale drew its borders right at the point where desert began to turn into lush forest and natural resources.

The border towns around the region were home to shady characters and illegal establishments, far away from the watchful eyes of either kingdom's metropolitan areas. Crime ran rampant, and anyone who was brave or foolhardy enough to make the border desert their home had to be strong and resilient, or become a victim.

On a more positive note, this desert and Vacuo in general was home to some of the oldest known archaeological sites in the world, not to mention its extensive fossil record. It was an archaeologists and paleontologist's paradise, but not even the most renowned professor at the University of Mantle knew everything about the place.

After all, no one had managed to dig up the perfect brownish crystal-like structure buried under a mile below the surface of Vacuo's border desert. Regardless, someone digging that one up or any of the other eight dotted around Remnant would have revolutionized the scientific community to the point where it would never be the same again. The origins of humanity would have been questioned, as well as the philosophical question on what it meant to be human.

Nevertheless, no one alive on Remnant had been privy to that cocoon's whereabouts or even that it existed at all, so the container's resident was allowed to sleep underneath the sands for eons, never once being disturbed from the rest he had been so deprived of before.

One day, millions of years after he first went dormant, Gaara's cocoon began to crack. It would be another few million years after that point, but over the course of that time it slowly began to crack more and more, began getting weaker and more transparent.

Finally, at the height of the current human civilization, Gaara's chakra cocoon gave way completely to age and weakness, shattering completely while still in its underground burial.

Exposed to the sand and dirt of the outside jolted Gaara's mind from its epoch long slumber, his brain slowly but surely regaining mental faculties after being dormant for so long.

Sand... he had spent his entire life surrounded by the stuff that he shouldn't have even noticed it was present now. But, for some reason, when he cracked his eyes open to get nothing but darkness and the feeling of sediment, he felt that it was something that he had been deprived of for so long.

He was... thirsty. He was never thirsty. But the tingling in his throat, of the dry scratchy feeling of sandpaper practically begging him for the life-giving liquid of water.

The redhead had no idea where he was or what he had been doing before. He could've said he had fallen asleep, but the concept was so foreign to him. It was ridiculous. Even that wouldn't explain why he would be underground, no sight of his siblings or village.

He tested his voice, the unused vocal chords giving out a pathetic rambling of a wheeze and a hack. His faithful gourd had followed him into the chakra shell, still filled to the brim with pristine sand that had been untouched for the past epoch.

The cork popped off the end of the gourd, allowing his special sand to flow out. He moved it against the other sand and minerals in his way, noting the pull of gravity wanting to push the flow of sand down. The surface must've been in the opposite direction, so he pushed back against it, creating an underground river of sand flowing backwards up to the surface, the sand at his rear pushing Gaara along.

A hole opened at the surface in the middle of the Vacuan Desert, miles away from a border town and hence civilization. A nearby coyote went up and sniffed the tiny hole curiosity, before there came a loud booming noise with the hole in the sand widening. The confused canine yelped and jumped back, the sudden event spooking the animal away.

Gaara gasped for breath as his red mop poked out of the hole first, followed by the rest of his head and then his body. The adolescent former killer groaned before crying out in pain and shutting his eyes. The light of the sun was beating down on his retina, unused for millions of years and accustomed to the dark.

Gaara closed his dark-circled eyes and recoiled from the sensory overload, his thoughts and vision swimming every time he attempted to open his eyes. His brain throbbed, but slowly and surely his vision began to adjust.

Rubbing circles on his head, the overpowered Genin finally felt it tolerable enough to open his eyes and bath in the sunlight. The Ichibi Jinchuuriki had been focused on getting his bearings and out of that hole, but now that he was he could think about more complex matters.

Complex matters such as his current location...

To the average untrained civilian of Suna, the desert before him would've held no difference from the Kaze no Kuni. They would've fallen asleep in the desert, woken up, and concluded they were still at home judging from this view.

Gaara... was not a civilian. Gaara knew deserts. He lived and breathed sand. He was the incarnation of sand itself, and it was an intrinsic part of his life with a bond that few people could begin to understand.

This desert was not the Kaze no Kuni. The sand was different... it was drier, and not as pure. There were certain contaminants in the sand that were not present in the Kaze no Kuni; probably the result of big business or technological innovation.

On a more obvious note, there was also the matter of... that.

"That" of course referred to the giant two-headed snake that had emerged from the desert sands. With one black head and one white head, the snake hissed menacingly at Gaara as it began circling around him, convinced in its mind that it had easy prey in a human boy.

Gaara didn't even blink at the snake's sudden appearance. But, at least it was another warning bell that he wasn't in Kansas anymore, or the Kaze no Kuni for that matter.

The white head coiled around him, Gaara blinking as the black head moved it in the opposite direction, the two halves of the snake's body forming a barrier. Like the twins that they were, they stopped in sync once they trapped Gaara, both lunging at him at the same time with their mouths open and their fangs outstretched.

The snakes gave a pained hiss and shriek as Gaara's reliable sand shield immediately came to his head, their heads bouncing off the shield as if it were made of brick.

The snake shook its two heads, hissing in anger as would anyone who just struck a brick wall with their skull. On pure animal instinct, they changed their strategy after they realized that ramming head on and biting the human would not work.

With that in mind, it began to coil around its prey, tighter and tighter with the intent of constricting Gaara to the point where he would be completely at the snake's mercy.

Gaara didn't react any further as the snake's body wrapped around his sand shield, gripping it tightly before squeezing, which would have turned him into a bloody mess, shield or no.

Nevertheless, all the snake was left with was a pile of sand, and Gaara was left to rise from the desert a few feet away, well out of the coil trap and the reach of the giant snake.

A Suna Bunshin was more than enough to fool a clearly mindless beast like this one. With his arms crossed, the Shukaku Jinchuuriki emerged on a torrent of sand. The redhead blinked once, before drawing his hands together into a seal. This beast was a fool for attempting to fight him in the desert. Drawing sand both from the gourd and the desert around him, a waterfall of sand surrounded the snake, the enhanced jutsu of Gaara's being necessary for a creature of its size.

"Ryuusa Bakuryuu!"

The snake's twin heads hissed in pain and indignation as the sand engulfed and buried them, a fresh layer of the substance being added to the desert. The sand fell over the landscape like a blanket, but Gaara wasn't done yet. He put his hands down on the fresh layer of sand, channeling his chakra through the sand to create a shockwave that passed through the top layer of the sand.

"Sabaku Taisou!"

With the coffin and funeral set, the snake's hissing came to a deathly quiet as its life was snuffed out by the sand. Sand gathered around the tip of Gaara's gourd, the cork settling itself in place once more.

The battle was easy, but the appearance of a thing like that raised more questions than answers for Gaara. He had never seen anything like it in his life, the two headed snake with the red eyes and the mask-like material on its face.

The boy's eyes scanned the landscape. Behind him was nothing but desert as far as the eye could see, but to the east there appeared to a mountain range and a distant palette of green that indicated the desert would turn to forest in that direction.

This land did not seem to be the Kaze no Kuni, but Gaara would get no answers merely hovering around in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps there would be human civilization closer to that mountain range?

Slowly and calmly, the Jinchuuriki set off in that direction, unknowingly heading to one of the border towns.

* * *

 _Mistral..._

On the other side of the world, the swamps of Mistral provided a much different environment than the dry, sandy desert on the border of Vacuo and Vale. Teeming with alligators, giant insects, and Grimm of all kind, another paleontological marvel lay deep beneath the bog, far underneath the silt and mud.

Like Gaara, it had weathered all kinds of weather, erosion and even climate change, never moving. The blonde boy contained inside never woke from his near eternal slumber, even as his habitat changed from a village, to a forest, to a swamp over the course of eons.

At the exact same time as Gaara in the desert, Naruto's underground cocoon began to crack...

* * *

And we're done here! New story!

Y'know, I sometimes do my best work in the middle of the night when I'm exhausted. Half the time I can't even form a coherent thought, but sometimes I really start stringing together these weird ideas while under the duress of sleep.

Well, anyway, the ninja world is gone. Now, Naruto's endgame is so convoluted and confusing I can scarcely follow it, and I every time I do I end up banging my head against my desk wondering how we got to _that_ from the way Naruto began. So, apologies if I got any of the Kagura/Madara/war bullshit wrong, but the only thing that's good for is some mild backstory ever now and again. Kaguya, Madara, the Juubi, and all that other stuff will not really be a factor from this point on.

With that said, I'm outta here, so I'll see you next time.

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	2. La Brea

And here we go. Substitutions/Kawarimi makes the world go round; I'm telling you.

* * *

Chapter 2: La Brea

The first thing Naruto noticed was that his lungs were burning with the water he was choking down. The second thing he noticed was that said water was filthy, diseased swamp water, which was strange considering there were no swamps in the hot spring town he and Jiraiya were staying at. And he didn't recall ever being anywhere that would require him to sleep in a bog somewhere.

When he opened his eyes, he stung his retina with the grimy, polluted water. He opened and closed them repeatedly when the eye pain got too much to bear, trying to blink it furiously out of his vision. Regardless of his sensory problems, he was able to tank through it and see well enough to make out a few things about his present location.

Besides the silty swamp bottom and the murky water, he alone was surrounded by what appeared to be small red-orange shards of crystal that were slowly floating toward the surface. They glimmered in the water with a luminescent glow, but oddly enough they only seemed to be surrounding him and were not a ever-present feature of the swamp.

Taking his mind off the shards for now, his mind began screaming for air. Thrashing his arms around and kicking up silt near the bottom, he began to naturally float to the surface.

And... there was something in the water. Something about ten feet long, brownish green in nature with reptilian features and a big mouth. It darted through the turbid water as if it saw prey, biting into Naruto's pant leg as it reached him.

Naruto thrashed, contorting his body and punching what turned out to be an alligator right in the snout. It flopped off his leg like a fish, before resuming its chase after Naruto who was rapidly swimming to the surface.

Naruto breached the water, splashing up a storm as the gator did the same. He pulled himself to a quagmire, sopping wed and bleeding from the ankle as his blue eyes stared down the predator in the water.

"Another gator? Gimme that shovel!"

Naruto blinked, suddenly becoming very aware that he had no shovel and he also had no need for a shovel. He didn't live in a trailer after all, and that outburst had been wholly unnecessary. He reached for his kunai pouch, noting with relief that he had fallen asleep in his normal clothes, and had forgotten to take it off when he went to bed. Knowing that he could brave the wilds with his weapons, his hand flew away from his pouch and into a seal.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A puff of smoke displaced some bubbles underwater as he could barely make out one of his clones appearing just underneath the dirty water where the gator was swimming. The clone swam upwards and placed his hands on the gator's underbelly, and with a thrust pushed the confused reptile out of the water. It flopped through the air over to the real Naruto's position, who took the opportunity to wind up a sucker punch to the alligator's jaw, sending it flying over some trees on the opposite bank and into some other part of the bog.

"Okay, that was a thing. Now, where the hell am I? Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked, his first instinct to ask for the master who had been training him when he was last awake. Waking up in a swamp was not on his bucket list when there was training to do.

A crow cawed somewhere in the distance as Naruto stood there waiting. Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen, and for that matter neither was anybody else. Maybe it was some kind of new training regimen that his sensei hadn't told him about. He wouldn't put it past the old pervert.

"Okay, no Ero-sennin..."

A flock of birds flew overhead, startled by some rustling in the bushes.

"No anyone, really..."

Naruto hummed to himself, squinting his cerulean eyes as he took in the murky water and the stormy grey sky of the swamp environment. They had been in the Hi no Kuni last time he was awake, which as a country was hot, dry, and had very few swamps. That was more Mizu no Kuni's thing.

Some rustling from the brush behind him drew the boy's attention.

"Ero-sennin?"

A hunched figure emerged from the growth, and Naruto blinked when the... _thing_ came into view.

"Uhh..."

It was pitch-black in color from head to toe except for its white mask and its beady red eyes. White bone spikes jutted out of its neck, forearms, and elbows, jagged and serrated just like the matching claws on its paws and feet. It looked vaguely wolf-like in appearance, but its gangly appearance and that horrifying mask made sure that this was no everyday wolf.

While Naruto was confused and slightly worried, he was in no way afraid. Compared to the Kyuubi, this thing was a puppy in both appearance and bloodlust.

It sniffed for a little while before locking eyes with him, and Naruto could feel the raw hatred behind those red eyes. Not just hatred for him, but an intense loathing for all of humanity.

In that manner, it was different from the Kyuubi. The fox's bloodlust was palpable and its hatred for humanity burning, but the Bijuu was cunning and calculating, with enough knowledge behind those red eyes to fill several libraries.

This... was a mindless monster, running on the only instinct it had. It rushed at him, its large frame not necessarily lending itself to greater speed. With its claws extended, it clearly wanted to bore through him and continue on to the next human.

The monster took a few seconds to realize that it was still charging when Naruto had jumped and flipped directly over its head with ease. It turned away and swung its claws with reckless abandon, only for the dull edge of its claws to be blocked by the back of Naruto's fist.

The faster boy sprung forth and used his free hand to deliver a devastating uppercut to the beast's chin, cracking its mask and forcing it to dissolve into black dust.

"You're not Ero-sennin."

Naruto titled his head and hummed.

"Hmmmmm... well that was weird. Do monsters usually dissolve like that? If you looked at that one way, you could say that it looked like a summon being dispelled. Maybe. Not really. The thing's body just disappeared," Naruto said aloud.

Talk about anticlimactic. One strong punch to the jaw rendered that monster to dust. Still, if a civilian without active chakra or training would've fought that thing, they would've broken their hand the moment they punched it. It clearly wasn't just some feral animal a civilian village could put down if it wanted to.

Naruto could figure out the dynamics of civilian combat later, because at the moment he needed to get used to seeing more of those things.

More rustling drew Naruto's attention, and to his annoyance yet another masked thing emerged from the brush. Though, this one was different than the last, and Naruto blinked at its even odder appearance compared to the canine monster.

Head of a goat... check. Emaciated body... check. Bat wings... check. The official name for this type of Grimm was "Jersey", but to Naruto it was just weird-looking goat thing that he had never seen before.

It went down about as easily as the weird wolf thing, too.

"Geez, where the hell am I?" Naruto asked, swinging a stick around as he trudged through the undergrowth, fighting off a new monster every once in a while. That wasn't even the worst part about his trudge through the swamp. Neither was the bog and quicksand he occasionally found himself running into. No, the worst part was when he had accidentally hit an overhanging branch, causing a nest with the biggest wasps he had ever seen to tumble onto the ground before him.

That... had sucked.

"Ow! This place is hell..." Naruto grumbled, slouching forward. Forget about finding Ero-sennin; he just wanted to get out of her so he could take a salt bath and sooth his stung body. Though maybe his rapid healing would eliminate that concern sooner than he expected.

He ignored the annoying sloshing his sandals made on the marshy ground and the dirt and grime his clothes were caked in. The grumpy thirteen year old cleared a few more bushes and stems out of his way, and when he did he saw the first signs of civilization in the view outside the swamp.

A plume of smoke was rising over the landscape, its source obscured by the thick underbrush of the swamp and the low treeline beyond the bushes he had cleared. Too bad that when he uncovered the curtain of flora to take a look, half a dozen more of those things were behind it. The six of them were huddled around in a circle, and tilted their heads and grunted when the human pushed the undergrowth aside. As soon as he glimpsed them, Naruto's mouth spread into a thin line.

"Okay, seriously. How many of these assholes are going to get in my way?" Naruto asked himself, especially since they kept hindering his attempts to find civilization. In this case, they were the directs obstacle between him and it.

Whatever the case, these things were attracted to him like he was a giant magnet. Those six he uncovered were just the tip of the iceberg, and it was HIM they were attracted to for whatever reason, probably that hatred for humanity he felt earlier for them. He had passed a few signs of wildlife on the way here, such as squirrels and even a deer. The masked beasts didn't show any interest in the animals, or anything else in their surroundings for that matter.

They attacked him with a fury and a greed that didn't befit their relative weakness.

After fighting his way through dozens of them with his weapons pouch, Naruto finally entered a clearing where the swamp receded and reached what turned out to be crude wooden walls laced with barbwire and wooden spikes, that he could easily jump over. Primed defenses they were not, but looking at the fences told him two things. One, people who lived here wanted to protect themselves from something, probably the beasts but possibly groups of marauders and thugs. Two, there weren't readily available or easy to get resources to protect themselves with a fully-fledged wall.

There was an opening for people, and he could see that this was a small town, possibly even a nomadic village so these people could get up and move at any given point. That was maybe another reason why the defenses were so flimsy.

The low walls allowed him to see into the town from his position without entering it.

There were some people in the inside milling about their tents and houses, a large cluster in the center of the village where a large fire pit had been set up. A few of them had already taken notice of him as he approached, for they seemed on edge. His eyes scanned their forms. Most of them were wearing casual clothes like t-shirts and jeans. This showed that they weren't forced to live in complete squalor, but some of the clothes looked dirty or worn-out. They probably traded for whatever they needed by passing through towns and cities, picking up some manner of goods and technology along the way.

They were all in great shape too, no doubt from the lifestyle they lived. There were a few children running around, but Naruto was more trained on the adults. Some of them had swords and other bladed weapons strapped somewhere on their person. A few of them had an unknown bar shaped device contained within a holster on their hips. They looked on guard, so he would play it safe even if he wanted to approach them. A Kawarimi set up before he met them would do wonders.

" _I see swords. That bar shaped thing is p_ _robably a ranged weapon..._ " he thought.

Not good, one of them had an overly compensative sword strapped behind his back that he suddenly took out. But before Naruto could even take a step forward or back, he was held at arrow point by six people who had suddenly appeared before him in a circle.

They weren't bad; he couldn't even sense their presence until they were right up on him. Most of them he hadn't seen in the village; perhaps they were scouting for something from outside the village and happened to take notice of his presence.

He could hear the strain of bowstrings, but now that he was closer to the inhabitants of this place, he could take a closer look. Three of the threatening archers were women, and while that wasn't particularly surprising, one of those said women had something very peculiar set upon her head. A pair of antlers, to be exact. Naruto couldn't stop staring at it, his mouth opening and closing like a fish a few times. Then again, it wasn't entirely unusual to see things like that. Kisame looked like he was half shark, after all.

He didn't say anything about the antlers, just stopping himself from spitting out his observations and no doubt angering the antlered woman. She looked unfriendly, to say the least. While the others were frowning and glaring at him, the deer woman seemed to have her face set in a permanent scowl, her black ponytail bobbing as her shoulders shook with impotent rage.

Those bows looked funky, too. Their village was structured in the style of a primitive village, and at first glance their weaponry would appear to as well. These weren't basic wooden bows, however. They were made of mostly metal and with sharp almost foldable edges, looking far more composite than traditional bows.

"Who are you? Are you with the Clover Troupe?" one of the men asked commandingly.

Considering how new this place was to Naruto, he of course had no idea what they were talking about and who the Clover Troupe was. The way they were looking at him with distrust, though... brought up some bad memories.

Oh, well. Time to talk his way out of this.

"What's the Clover Troupe? I've never heard of them before, but I'm not a part of them. I have no idea why I'm here. I've just been wandering around this place until I was attacked by these weird looking monster things. I saw your village and it was first sign of people I've seen since I got lost! Honest!"

That was mostly the truth, but these people clearly didn't look like they bought it.

"A likely story!" snarled the deer woman in hatred. She in particular seemed to develop an even stronger animosity toward him for some reason, "Your ridiculous getup is not something that we would wear out in the Wilds, and is more suited for the circus workers within the Clover Troupe. You even have the painted animal features upon your face just like one of the Clover Faunus Handlers, as a mockery to Faunus everywhere and the uniform for your sick entertainment!"

A heavyset, tanned man opposite the deer woman spoke next in a much calmer voice.

"We have received word that one of your main tents was attacked by Grimm just a few days ago, not long after your after you traveled through our village. Your appearance here alone right after that attack seems oddly coincidental. Appearing at one of the villages you scum personally sacked while posing as a refugee. It would be a prudent move had you remembered to change out of your circus garb and face paint."

"We will not forget those transgressions so easily! You ransacked our tiny village and brought Grimm into the territory, all to capture faunus for your sick sideshow!" the deer woman said again, trigger finger itching.

"C'mon, Flidais. He's just a kid; I've heard many kids go to work for Clover because they have nothing left in life. Maybe we should just let him go..." another of the women pointed out.

"I still say we kill him! Regardless of whether he is a kid, this is the Clover Troupe we are talking about here!" Flidais said, her hands shaking while looking dangerously close to releasing the arrow she had prepared. Good thing Naruto had prepped a Kawarimi!

"Um, can I just say one thing?" Naruto asked, raising his finger as if to propose an idea. The deer woman snarled an irritated "What?" right back at him before he pointed at the sky. Apparently they hadn't noticed it yet.

"Giant bird."

The ear-splitting screech from the beastly avian itself came upon them right after Naruto had pointed it out, as all six warriors stumbled in place from the rumbling from its voice and the beating of its wings as it came down on the village.

"A Nevermore?" the large, tanned man asked incredulously. Naruto whistled at the thing; it was clearly the same kind of monster that he had been seeing up to this point, if the black color and the mask were any indication. It was a lot bigger than those ones though, maybe a quarter of the size of Gamabunta or the Kyuubi.

"Now, what the hell is a Nevermore?" Naruto asked himself, shrugging his shoulders and looking remarkably cavalier about the entire situation. The arrows weren't pointing at him anymore and the six warriors had fallen into a battle formation clearly meant for the Nevermore. They weren't even paying attention to him anymore.

"I've never even seen one. Even if this is the wild, Nevermores are usually so rare. We're not prepared to deal with this!" one of the other women said in awe and more than a little fear. The screech had brought out screaming people from inside their homes, panic overcoming as the humans rushed in every which direction. Children followed their parents crying, while others just made a break for it out into the forest, uncaring of whatever else they might meet in there.

The bird landed, its giant talons piercing the earth in the center of the town as its spread its enormous wings and began searching out its prey. It had a wide variety to choose from.

A few adults from before slung those unidentified ranged weapons from off their backs and pointed them at the Nevermore. Naruto flinched when multiple loud cracks rang out every time someone used the weapon. Pellets of multiple different colors and effects were the ammunition that came from within the weapons, some producing fire, ice, or various other effects.

They struck the bird, but they didn't seem to do more than make it flinch like it was being assaulted by a few dozen biting insects. For every time it got agitated enough, it would flap its wing and level a tent or peck with its beak.

A man in a cowboy hat seemed to agitate it enough with his shooting, so it pecked into the dirt, impaling the man as it impacted the dirt before rubbing the remains off its beak.

Naruto's blue eyes hardened as the small town was leveled in a matter of moments. With hits beak, it snatched off a roof from a house and stuck its head inside. Screaming came from within as a boy and girl around his age were plucked from within and pinned between its beak. The Nevermore then reared its head back fully and slid the two kids screaming into its mouth.

"Oh, no! Kiel, Bethany!" he heard one of the warriors shout over the din. They were no longer paying any attention to Naruto, instead focusing on the most prominent threat.

Fire had started in the village by now, and Naruto grit his teeth while clenching his fist at his side. This was so wrong. These people may have been distrusting and threatening to him, but it was clear that they were trying to eke out a life in what was clearly a dangerous environment.

The Nevermore didn't even appear to be acting like a feeding animal. It ate those two kids, but was killing in indiscriminate ways and leaving the corpses behind once it was done. If Naruto had to guess based on its behavior, it was causing as much mayhem as possible by choice.

He noticed the deer woman named Flidais flash through the village at speeds that indicated she was different than the civilians that were fleeing. She pulled apart the two ends of her detachable bow, forming twin jet-black pistols that launched fire dust and sand dust respectively.

Flidais rolled underneath a few barrels and boxes behind a still standing house, head poking out but making sure that the Nevermore couldn't see her. Her look was one of resolute indifference, which was... odd. She had been so angry before, but seeing the Nevermore in action had caused her to control her temperament for some reason, which given before one would think impossible.

Her eyes glanced at another untouched house about fifteen feet parallel to the one she was currently hiding behind. Bounding out of her hiding spot, she raised both of her weapons and sprinted, strafing along and firing at the bird who had its back turned to her, already terrorizing some other warrior in the village.

The fire shots from her left pistol were slower but powerful, exploding on the surface of the bird when they hit their target with a decent blast radius. Her earthy right pistol could shoot at about twice the rate of her left, shooting hardened pellets of sand that seemed to pierce their targets better than the fire.

By the time the Nevermore took notice of her, she was hiding behind the other house. She strapped the weapons to her back and climbed up upon the windowsill, before making some footing on the rusty drainpipe and pulling herself onto the roof of the house.

She clacked her two weapons together and reformed them back into a singular bow. Without missing a beat, she pulled the string back as taut as she could, an arrow made entirely of the fire material formed and ready to shoot.

She had basically announced her presence to the Nevermore, for it screeched when it noted her as the source of its pain, flapping its wings and preparing to divebomb the deer woman.

Flidais closed one of her eyes, getting the bird in her sights as she prepared to fire her slowest but most powerful weapon, aiming directly between the Nevermore's eyes.

When she was sure of it, she released the arrow as is made a high-pitched whine and crackle. Clearly it wasn't fast enough though, because while Flidais was banking on it, the Nevermore simply swerved to the right upon instinct and the arrow soared by.

"What?" she howled, "Augh!" she said as the Nevermore's beak impacted the roof she was presently standing on, turning the shingles into rubble. Transforming her weapon, she lost her footing and fired a few rounds at the Nevermore as it swooped by, even as chunks of rubble pelted.

She impacted the ground with a heavy grunt with some of the rubble falling on her not long after. Sneering, she pulled her slightly battered body and snuck off back into another alleyway as the bird once again circled the village.

Seeing the bird claim those two victims and several warriors fall was what made Naruto spring into action, rushing forward and bounding over the barbwire into the village proper.

He stumbled a bit when the bird locked eyes with him, and only him. He could tell; that Nevermore had dropped all that it was doing just so it could set its targets on Naruto once he entered its sights.

The colossal bird screeched once more, crushing the roof of a house between its powerful talons, before it took off, crushing the rest of the house under its weight as it jumped. It flapped his wings and soared right towards him.

Naruto rolled over to the side as the bird swooped past, the sharp talons just grazing his clothes. The soaring bird crashed into the barbwire fence, knocking it over purely as if by accident and opening a hole in the village's defenses for more of the weaker monsters.

A few of the weapon carriers were ushering the non-combatants to safety. The remaining thirty or so fighters surrounded the bird, firing arrows and pellets while the bird was letting its guard down.

More streams of elemental ammo were assaulting the bird, damaging it somewhat but failing to administer any type of killing or incapacitating blow. Naruto grunted and glared, realizing that the weapons weren't necessarily effective. And the warriors were just spamming their ammo aimlessly without even taking into account the bird's weakpoints.

Naruto put his hands into his favorite seal.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The young, out of place Genin created half a dozen clones which popped into existence in quick succession right along the bird's spine. The Nevermore was already getting back into its flight pattern, but it made another shriek at the sudden weight that was pressing it down.

With their place set on the bird's back, two of the Naruto clones each took out kunai and wrapped cloned versions of exploding tags around them. Nodding to each other, they lobbed the projectiles simultaneously at the Nevermore's wings.

The seals began to sizzle, and five seconds later two loud booms resounded through the village as the bird shrieked. Charred feathers fell uselessly around as the blast crippled the bird's wings, bringing it down for a few seconds more.

The beast was durable though, and a wound like that while painful was not enough to cripple its wings permanently. After it was downed, it got right back up after struggling mildly under its damaged wings.

Naruto groaned in exasperation, though after he was done he gave a curt nod to the clones who had held fast onto the bird's back even as it rose again.

Putting his hands once again into the seal, Naruto created two more clones upon the rooftops of twin houses parallel to one another that had been untouched in the bird's rampage.

"Now!" the real Naruto relayed. As if on cue and relayed through his head, one of the clones rushed forward onto the beast's shoulder just as it was getting fully airborne again. The clone wrapped his hands around the bird's neck as far as he could go, trying to cause as much uncomfort as possible. Meanwhile, one of the clones on the houses pulled out a spool of wire, nipping the edge and holding it before tossing the spool to his counterpart on the opposite roof.

The bird screeched and hollered, before a clone jabbed a kunai into its throat to shut it up. The pain and the hold from the clone caused it to buck around more, while the clone directed it on a path.

The ninja wire was held taut as the clone grabbed a handful of feathers. Faster, faster went the bird, but the clones upon its back hung on brilliantly as it threaded the needle between the two houses.

In its panic and confusion, the Nevermore had driven its neck directly through the sharp ends of the ninja wire, its momentum being too great to stop or change course. Once braced, the two Naruto clones pulled tightly, forcing the wire to become tauter as they were assaulted by a plethora of weight as the bird's body crashed it to, but the load became lighter as the wire severed the head as the body became more and more out of control.

The headless corpse of the Nevermore flew through the ninja wire, and now that its mental faculties were gone the motor functions of the wings failed, and the torso was sent careening into a tent before it dispersed into dust, the timing matching up with when the head started to dissolve.

Their jobs done, the clones upon the rooftop dispelled into smoke, along with any others that may have remained. The ones on the Nevermore's back had already died upon impact.

The real Naruto clapped his hands together, blowing a sigh of relief and exasperation.

"Okay, that's done..." he said, as cheerfully as he could being surrounded by death and destruction. Was this was these people lived through on a regular basis? A few dozen people had died in that attack.

The crying of both children and adults alike surrounded him as some people tentatively made their way back into the town, but the pained sobbing was now becoming more quiet sniffles.

Before long, people had filed back into the village, and even some of the warriors who had held him at arrowpoint were gawking at him. The tanned man from before walked through the throng of people up to Naruto, the nearly seven feet tall giant staring at him with mystique. From him and the other warriors, there was no more distrust in their eyes, that is until Naruto noticed Flidais leaning against the wall of a house. She was the only one left with that distrust, but she didn't leave the awning of that house.

"You saved us from the Nevermore... you are not with the Clover Troupe, are you?" the man asked, leaning out a massive, tan hand for Naruto to shake. Pretty soon someone in the crowd began to clap slowly, which spurned on more and more people to give Naruto a round of applause. The boy's blue eyes glimmered before a megawatt grin spread across his face, and he grasped the man's larger hand in his own. He was glad that most of them had emerged unscathed at least, and had grown to trust him.

Still, he laid another Kawarimi just to play it safe.

* * *

And we're done here.

So, the first chapter was Gaara's introduction with a teaser of where Naruto was. He's in wilds near Mistral, far far away from where Gaara landed, on separate continents in fact.

Anyway, that's all for now,

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	3. Archaean

And here's the next chapter. We switch back to Gaara's perspective for a little while, and he meets a character in the RWBY universe who you should all be well aware of.

* * *

Chapter 3: Archaean

When Gaara walked into the border town, he was instantly reminded of one of the civilian villages dotted around his home country. In other words, it was a filthy, lawless place untouched by the watchful eye of Suna and the amount of good things about it could fit into a thimble. It reminded him of Suna too, but ever since he stopped going on murderous rampages he wasn't supposed to be thinking those kind of thoughts. Eh, who was going to know?

The only thing missing was a rolling tumbleweed to signal his entrance into the grimy town. The town's main street was a dirt road which was small enough to see from end to end, with most of the buildings made of old wood in a specific style with a few brick ones scattered here and there.

The main street seemed to be mostly shops, bars/saloons, and a couple shady motels with dubious signs that alluded to a "special" side business that went on behind the scenes, with the residential districts off the dirt roads that led to the sidestreets and back alleys of the border town. It was midday, and the hot sun was beating down on the border town and baking the dirt roads. A few people were out and about despite this, but mostly were loitering on the porches of buildings or wherever they could find shade.

Well, he was in civilization at least. His magical raccoon demon he played host to meant that he probably wasn't going to die in the sandy wasteland or by being attacked by a random street thug, but he needed food and water just like a normal human would.

This town was unfamiliar, and his insomniac eyes panned over to a few strangers lounging around on the porch of the nearest bar. There were a few things odd ever since he had arrived.

Gaara didn't sleep, and just a little while ago had awoken from some sort of unconscious state. He could worry about Shukaku eating away at his sanity later, but the unconsciousness itself was peculiar. Second, he had awoken from underground in a desert. Being in a desert wasn't terribly surprising given it was his homeland, but Sunagakure was nowhere in sight.

Third, he came across creatures he did not know existed. Fourth, this was not a town he was aware of. That didn't seem necessarily unusual; there were probably a few towns in Kaze no Kuni he couldn't name or place. Fifth, those strangers were wearing a style of dress that wasn't particularly typical in Suna or the Kaze no Kuni at large, and the metal sign outside the settlement were written in characters that he didn't recognize.

Gaara's expression did change as he processed this information, and the thin line that was his mouth did not quirk upward or downward as he came to the final conclusion.

"I am not in Suna or the Kaze no Kuni anymore, despite its similar terrain."

Readjusting the gourd on his back, Gaara came to a stop in front of a building and stepped onto the wooden porch while looking overhead. Those foreign characters loomed over him as the building's sign, and Gaara squinted in slight frustration.

Then, it came to him.

"General... Store..." he pronounced with some difficulty. Reading the sign though led to a more troubling thought by the young Ichibi Jinchuuriki. Why was he capable of reading that language? He had never seen it before, but upon looking at the script a second time he could slowly feel himself getting a grasp over the characters, like an old memory that was becoming fresh again.

Mind brimming with questions, Gaara pushed open the double doors and went straight to the counter without even bothering to look at the display. When he heard the doors to his store open, the shopkeep rushed to the counter.

"Welcome, welcome! If it's food you want, you browse all the shelves and aisles. Specialty goods I keep in the back store room, so if you need something ask and I'll see if I have it back there!"

Gaara paused. It was the same phenomenon that he was experiencing with the local written word. He understood completely what the shopkeep was saying to him, yet he recognized the words coming out of his mouth and could tell it was different than the spoken word of the Elemental Countries.

The shopkeep was a wiry man who looked to be in his forties, wearing a white apron and with tidy black hair and a pencil mustache. His pleasant demeanor seemed somewhat forced.

"I'm here for information, actually..." Gaara said bluntly, not caring that the shopkeep's expression turned sour.

And there it was. He spoke back fluently in another language that he didn't remember learning. It was like a fluent bilingual, he recognized the words in his head as he spoke them, but could switch back to his native tongue in a heartbeat.

That seemed to put a damper on the shopkeep, and his expression turned into a sour frown. He twirled his mustache while giving the boy a dismissive once over, eying his clothes and gourd with disdain.

"Oh, you are now? I don't suppose you would have any money on you, would you? I proffer information as well as goods, but like anything getting the information you want may cost a bit of lien..."

"I do not know what lien is..." Gaara replied deadly. That seemed to throw the shopkeeper for a loop.

"Pbbbbbff... wha?" he asked in confusion. "You been livin' under a rock or somethin', kid? It ain't like we have different ones anymore; all four kingdoms are all united under one standardized currency..."

Gaara didn't say anything, being at a loss of words. He was just as confused as the shopkeeper before him, but like the language the terms that were being thrown around had the same effect of jogging an old memory.

However, not having any answer seemed to make the shopkeeper angrier.

"I don't have time for stupid kids playing pranks! Cut the crap and get out of my store before I call the sheriff on you!" Gaara closed his eyes; his childhood would lend him experience dealing with irritating fools.

"Dealing with" usually involved them meeting a bloody end, but he was resolved to not be that way anymore. Since he didn't want to deal with the man screaming in his face, he turned around and left the general store without another word.

The shopkeep gave him the evil eye until he was thoroughly out of the store. Not just in appearance, the attitude of at least that one person was reminding him of how things used to be in Suna.

Putting the shopkeeper out of his mind and prepared to try a new tactic, Gaara headed to the biggest building he saw from his vantage point upon coming into the town. A wide two story building that appeared to be an inn of sorts was just a few doors down from the general store, and he was to try there next.

And, like everything else in the border town, it was a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Probably a inn for thieves and murderers on the run from the law; edge towns like this were perfect for them.

So, because it was full of villains, Gaara strolled right up to the double doors and pushed them open like he owned the place. The interior was just like any old Western inn, not that Gaara would know about the Western theme.

Instantly, he felt several pairs of eyes on him once he entered. He walked up to the bar with about as much energy as Gaara could possibly exude. Still, it seemed to be enough to insult the guests.

Speaking of which, there was some sleazy, drunken fool surrounded by bottles seated near the middle of the bar and forcing the bartender to babysit him.

When Gaara approached his own seat, he could already smell the booze wafting off him in waves. The grey-haired man was rambling some drunken story back to the bartender, but Gaara had already tuned him out.

"S-Sho... d-dis job I'm on currently... lazy b-bums the lots of 'em!" he slurred incoherently. All the while he was ogling the attractive, yet rough innkeeper. She looked like she wanted nothing more than to hang him by the balcony, which no doubt wasn't helped when the drunk's eyes tried to subtly work their way to her exposed cleavage. The keyword being tried.

"I'll be with you in a minute..." she told Gaara, eying him suspiciously due to his apparent age, a cigarette hanging from her lips. Her red curls wobbled as she smacked the man over the head, who gave a pained grunt in response. Behind the bar was a tally of "Hands Broken" scratched into the wooden wall with a knife, probably by people who attempted to grope the innkeeper in any way, shape, or form.

"Stare at my rack one more time and you'll find yourself sleeping on sand instead of one of mattresses tonight, Qrow!" Then without missing a beat, she turned to Gaara and put on a much more cheerful expression, albeit one that was still fairly gruff.

"Now, what can I do for ya, hun?" she asked. Qrow grunted and knocked over another bottle, swiveling his head over to stare stupidly at the kid with the gourd directly to his right.

"I'd like to know where I am..." Gaara said, getting straight to the point.

Qrow snorted in amusement and mockery.

"Why, you're in Cerro Gordo, of course..." she said patiently. The child before her was rather odd; her eyes were drawn to the dark circles around his eyes and the strange gourd on his back.

"What's wrong, kid? Ya lost? Did mommy and daddy leave their precious baby boy somewhere in town and now he's trying to get back to them? If so, you've got some pretty shitty parents, kid..." Qrow began ribbing.

Gaara almost rolled his eyes. If his father had merely been ignorantly negligent, then Gaara would've awarded him Father of the Year. Not like it mattered if he got lost since he could take care of himself.

"I'm sorry. That is insufficient. The name of the town I'm in can't really help me. Could you tell me the name of the country I am currently in..." Gaara said, his suspicions lending him to not reveal anything about the Kaze no Kuni, Hi no Kuni, etc.

Qrow gave a loud snort, his face nearly hitting the wood of the bar as the innkeeper looked at Gaara with the same confusion that the shopkeep had given him.

"Uh... this town is close to the border between Vacuo and Vale, but technically right now you would still be within the Kingdom of Vale..."

Vacuo and Vale. Those were two countries he had never heard of. Gaara's mind was beginning to draw conclusions, based on those suspicions he had. The strange snake monsters in the desert, waking up in an unknown location, lien as currency instead of ryo, and the existence of Vacuo and Vale, two countries that he had never heard of.

In passing, Gaara had heard of the multiverse theory, the butterfly effect and all that. Alternate dimensions and the like were common in works of fiction, and there were even jutsu that could accomplish such a feat. It would certainly explain away the bizarre happenings, that he was transported into another dimension via a jutsu, but he was going to leave that for a worst case scenario.

It was still entirely possible that he was on a distant continent that had no contact with the Elemental Nations and vice versa. How he got there out of the blue then... was more of a mystery.

"I see. I'm afraid I am unaware of the names Vacuo or Vale. Tell me, have you ever heard of a place called the Elemental Countries?" Gaara asked, drilling the bartender.

"Someone call the loony bin," Qrow snarked from next to him, giving a rude guffaw of laughter. He put his hand on the giant sword that was laying against the bar next to his seat, seemingly out of habit.

The pretty innkeeper was a bit more hospitable, but even she looked like she had her doubts.

"I'm afraid not, sugar. Y'see, explorers have circumnavigated the globe centuries ago and have set foot on all the land Remnant has to offer. There are only four kingdoms in the world, Vacuo, Vale, Atlas, and Mistral. Unless the Elemental Countries are some fancy pants slang to call one of the kingdoms, then they don't exist. Are you sure you're feeling okay, hun?" the redhead bartender asked.

"It's nothing..." Gaara said, the bartender's words pretty much putting his "far away continent" theory to rest. He reacted in about as indifferent a way as one could in his circumstances.

Four kingdoms, a world called Remnant apparently.

"Let's just put aside that for now... Whether or not you are aware of the Elemental Countries is irrelevant, but do you any locations that would suffice as a hub of travel, where I can attempt to travel back to my homeland..."

"Well, in that case I don't even know what yer doing so far out in the sticks, with no recollection of what you were doing. But, the airships never come out to a place like this. There are airship ports set throughout the kingdom, but the hub of travel is in Vale capital. If you're lookin' to travel to anywhere on Remnant with the safest and fastest travel, I would head to Vale capital first."

"Hold it right there, sweetheart. Don't tell me you believe that crock of shit story..." Qrow butted in, "Listen kid, I actually meant that you need to check into the nearest mental hospital. There ain't such a thing as the Elemental Countries; there's no way you're going to get back to them. I don't why you think you come from there; must've hit your head or something..."

" _That probably is true. Everything seems to indicate that I am in a completely alien land with no way back. Still, there are so many things I do not know about this Remnant. I need a plan of action. If I'm stranded here, then I need a way to eke out an existence. However, I should also continuing asking around about any connection to Suna or any of the other locales in the Elemental Countries, as well as a possible way to return to them. Heading to the capital city of this country should be beneficial in both those regards... and even then I have to prepare for Suna's reaction in case there is a way back..."_

"I see. Thank you for your time..." Gaara bowed politely to the innkeeper, turning to leave, seemingly without a care in the world to the fact that he was parentless and lost.

"Hey, wait a minute! Aren't you going to stay? I mean, where are your parents?" the innkeeper asked. Gaara did nothing other than shake his head at the woman without turning around.

His sand barrier popped up and stopped a bottlecap aimed directly at his head, followed by the redheaded innkeeper's cry of surprise. The man called Qrow had flicked it right at him, and the metal bauble had gotten embedded in his sand barrier.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. There was not enough force behind that cap to seriously injure, but it was clear that it was thrown like that with deliberate and accurate motions rather than a clumsy toss.

"Eh?" Qrow grunted in confusion at seeing the wall of sand, raising an eyebrow at the sight of the stream of sand flowing from the gourd. Some of the other patrons made confused and concerned whispers at each other under their breath. One guy adjusted his cowboy hat below his eyes after making eye-contact with Gaara.

"Oh my goodness me!" the innkeeper shouted, throwing her well-manicured hands up in alarm.

Some of the sand retracted into Gaara's gourd, while the rest fell onto the floor as the shield dissipated.

"Now, just hold up there, prince of darkness..." Qrow said, making a slant at what he thought was Gaara's eyeliner. One thing Gaara noticed about the man was that he seemingly threw out all the inhibitions he had while drunk.

"You're something else. To come into a seedy place like this, have no idea where you are or even what planet you're on, keep your cool during the entire thing. You can't be more than thirteen, to top it all off. And that sand... you're one weird kid."

"And? Did you stop me just to say that?" Gaara asked.

"Don't be so hard to get, sunshine. Mind if we scrap for a little bit?" Qrow asked, grabbing his blade from where he had left it. Gaara would've rolled his eyes if that wasn't too much a display of emotion.

"Why? I don't have a reason to fight you. I'd prefer not to, in fact..."

"Aw, c'mon. Don't be like that! I won't take no for an answer! Don't worry about it, I just wanna judge your potential..." Qrow stated, dropping into a fighting stance.

Gaara sighed and stood rigid, popping the cork off his gourd.

* * *

The nomadic village of Catalhoyuk looked like a tornado had swept through and leveled it in the wake of the Nevermore attack. Some of the tents were ripped to shreds, and most of the shacks and small houses that had existed had been bowled over.

It was sort of like a moving image of human misery on display, but then again so was life in the wilds. Some people were looking in disbelief at their ramshackle home that wasn't anymore, while others were just gathering around the village center and huddling together to comfort each other.

The way the large man who was the village leader accompanying him looked upon the devastation, it didn't seem to be that rare of an occurrence. Given the presence and sheer number of those "Grimm" as they were called would also seem to indicate that. They were living in practically a nest of those things, making him wonder why they would choose this location to settle.

Naruto stole a few glances at the large man. He was dressed in some kind of robe that would be reminiscent of the monks back in the Hi no Kuni. He had slicked back platinum blond hair and had a bow similar to Flidais' strapped to his hip.

The two of them passed by another shack, and Naruto locked eyes with Flidais who was sitting on a crate nursing the wound she had received from her battle. Most of the warriors had accepted him, but the deer woman just glared hotly back as they made eye contact.

"You guys aren't the most trusting, are you?"

The blonde man sighed.

"I'm sorry about our previous behavior, and Flidais. We mistook you for something you're not, but the truth of the matter is that plenty of us here in the village owe you our lives. Don't let Flidais' attitude bring you down. She's had a rough life being a faunus, making her one of the most untrusting of us. But, she may have the biggest heart of anyone here; she'll warm up to eventually."

The man paused for a moment.

"Name's Arteshir, by the way..."

"Uzumaki Naruto..." Naruto responded back. Arteshir cringed a bit.

"Strange name, kid. Doesn't seem like a name you would get growing up in the wilds of Mistral. You originally from Vacuo or somethin'?" he asked, to which Naruto had no clue was Vacuo was.

They passed a ruined tent where a family was picking up debris.

"Uh... no. I don't even know what Vacuo is..."

Arteshir stopped in confusion, to which Naruto bumped into his back.

"You _don't_ know what Vacuo is? Damn kid, even in the wilds we know the names of the four kingdoms that make up Remnant. You been livin' under a rock your whole life or something?" the dark-skinned man asked.

The word "Remnant" and "kingdoms" caught Naruto's attention. Again, they were terms that Naruto didn't exactly know about, but the mere mention of them seemed to stir some foggy knowledge in him.

"Uh, I don't think so. I'm from Konoha, in the Hi no Kuni of the Elemental Countries. I don't even know why I'm here..."

Arteshir stopped in front of his own shack, sitting down on a crate resting right next to the front door and rubbing a hand through his cornrows.

"Naruto, are you sure you haven't spent too much time out in the wild?"

Naruto wanted to say something, anything. His mouth flapped up and down as he tried to come to an explanation to his sudden appearance far away from home. Arteshir's gaze on him was slightly intense, and the two stood in awkward silence for a moment before it was thankfully broken.

A smallish figure was moving around within the shack they were mingling by, and the door creaked openly slowly.

"Father, is it okay to come out now?" a small, scared voice proclaimed. Even if she hadn't proclaimed Arteshir as her father, the skinny yet lanky girl who came out was a dead ringer in the family resemblance department.

Most notable was the same dark skin tone and shock of blonde hair that resembled a lion's mane. She was even dressed in the same monk-styled clothing as her father.

"Ah, Arslan! I'm glad to see you're safe!" Arteshir smiled wider than Naruto had seen him do up to this point. The girl who couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve nodded resolutely, before her gaze turned to him.

"Who is this, father?" she asked.

"Ah, this is Naruto. He's a stranger to these lands, was just passing through town. Turns out we were pretty jerkish to him before he went and saved our asses from that Nevermore..."

Arslan's eyes lit up.

"You're the one who defeated that giant?" she asked, before her golden eyes panned around the ruined village. She then bowed to the boy respectfully. "Thank you for saving our humble village..." she said.

"Aww, it was nothing..." Naruto said, blushing lightly and rubbing the back of his head.

"Naruto here said he was from... what did you call the place again?" Arteshir butt in, placing a hand on Naruto and Arslan's shoulder.

"The Elemental Countries."

"Yeah, the Elemental Countries. Never heard of 'em myself..."

"The Elemental Countries..." Arslan said whimsically, "So, you're away from home. On your own? Don't you have any family?" she asked, only to squeak when she heard her father growl.

"Arslan..." Arteshir said lowly, "In the wilds, everyone's affairs are their own business. You know Flidais doesn't like it when people ask about her past."

Arslan looked away, slightly ashamed.

"I want to get back, though..." Naruto whispered, though both Arslan and Arteshir heard him speak. The father and daughter pair stared at each other uncomfortably.

"Well, do you know where it is?" Arslan asked.

"He doesn't even know what Vacuo or Mistral is, and we've never heard of the Elemental Countries. I think we're in a bad spot..." Arteshir said.

"Well, we should help him out! Try to help Naruto find his home!" Arslan implored her father and village leader.

Arteshir sighed.

"Arslan, you know we already have enough on our plate as it is. He's welcome to stay and travel with us, but we go wherever it gives us the best chance to survive. Not to mention, we've already had plenty of close calls with the Clover Troupe. We don't have time to chase a ghost, or in this case a village that we've never even heard of and don't know where it is!"

Naruto and Arslan both hung their heads. Naruto in particular was looking very uncomfortable, clearly for reasons related to his current situation.

"Oh, yeah..." Naruto said, changing the subject, "What's this Clover Troupe I've heard about?"

Both Arteshir and Arslan's faces darkened simultaneously.

" _Those_ guys..." Arteshir growled lowly, his face twisted in anger.

"Out of all the shit I've seen out here in the wilds, I could've never imagined that humans could be bigger monsters than the monsters themselves. Yeah, the son of a bitch that runs it may want to call it a circus, but anyone with half a brain would call it a slave ring under the guise of a circus or carnival."

"A carnival?! How could anyone set up a carnival in a place like this?" Naruto asked in astonishment.

"Well, to be more accurate they're a travelling circus that more often than not moves throughout the wilds of Mistral. Sometimes though they head inside the kingdom's walls, but they'd never get away with what they do if they tried it there..."

"Grimm are an essential part of their act, but they also use Grimm and their employees for more shady purposes. Besides the Grimm, our camp was attacked by the Clover Troupe just over a week ago. That's why we were so wary of you... we mistook you for a Clover."

Naruto grimaced, his fists falling to his sides as he clenched them.

"I don't understand. Why go after you guys?"

"I think you might be able to guess already. The Clover Troupe wanted faunus for their acts, so they attacked our village with their captured Grimm and captured as many faunus that they found suitable. It's the only way they can get personnel for their acts. They can't go after settlements in the kingdom under the watchful eye of the Mistral government. They come out here and capture faunus from the wilds."

Naruto remembered the word "faunus" being thrown around by the villagers. In a sick sense, he guessed that the Clover Troupe were after people with those animal traits like Flidais. In the Elemental Countries, people like that would no doubt be more than capable of serving as a sideshow.

Unconsciously, Naruto's hand brushed up against his cheek, and he stroked his whisker marks. He wasn't one of these faunus, but this reminded him too much of home. Being shunned and mocked for being different than a normal human.

Arslan and Arteshir stared at him, and the large man put a reassuring hand on Naruto's shoulder. His eyes were drawn to the strange whisker markings on his face. Could Naruto be a faunus? That would explain his reaction, but Arteshir had only ever seen faunus traits represented through tails or ears, never anything like what Naruto had.

Still, it wasn't his or his daughter's place to determine his species.

"What do you guys think you're to do about the Clover Troupe? I mean, from what you're saying they could strike again, right?" Naruto asked. Arteshir grunted.

"Yeah, they might be back. Our warriors hit 'em where it hurts, and they didn't make off with as many faunus. The ringmaster is a foul-tempered old sleazebag; he's sure to take it personally..."

Naruto looked around the villlage; it was a sorry state. Apparently not just from Grimm attacks, but from fellow humans as well.

"Alright, I'll help fight them off if they come back. I wanna stay with you guys for a while..." Naruto said. He would have to learn as much as he can about this new place. Getting home would have to wait for just a little while. There was a new enemy to fight, but the thought of Jiraiya crossed his mind. His sensei was probably worried sick right now, maybe even to the point of returning to Konoha for aid. There were just so many affairs back home he had to get back to, but he couldn't just leave this people to get picked off by a deranged circus.

Naruto stuck out his hand to Arteshir, and smiled his megawatt grin.

"Let me fight with you guys against these assholes..."

* * *

The Clover Troupe was infamous in Mistral, not just in the wilds but in the kingdom proper itself. The traveling circus of performers had a tagline as it traveled throughout the continent.

"Come one and all, to see unbelievable and death-defying acts of bravery. Find yourself amazed and mystified by the unusual and wonderful inhuman marvels here to perform for your entertainment!"

The ringleader of the Clover Troupe was a man named Otto van Klaver. At first glance, he would seem like your basic, campy circus ringmaster. Garbed in a garish green suit and matching bowtie and top hat, Klaver was a man who was always very personable with guests every time his traveling circus rolled into town. During shows, he would exude an aura of exuberance and energy for a man his age. And after the show, he would weave through the jubilant crowd with a bounce in his step, twirling his cane and usually humming a ditty as he always had time for the fans.

Otto van Klaver also had ties to the Mistral nobility and ordered the capture and enslavement of faunus from the wilds outside the kingdom. Said captured faunus were of course meant to perform in the troupe's act.

Feline faunus were the best acrobats you could dream of, jumping through flaming rings and walking on tightropes as if they were nothing. Clowns were made up of other assorted faunus, and the ones that were based on the very rare animal species or had unique traits were kept as circus freaks.

The Clover Troupe even kept Grimm, taming them as best they could for their act. Surely, such a thing would be illegal, right? It didn't follow the safety guidelines for an industry like the circus.

Well, the Clover Troupe didn't _follow_ any safety guidelines to speak of out in the wilds. In fact, one of the main attractions was to see a Beowolf chase some poor sap down.

"Turnover rate" in employees was high, but it wasn't like the Clover Troupe could go "recruiting" within the walls of Mistral. Klaver scowled at his desk, taking out an abacus and doing some math.

That podunk little village in the wilds was stronger than it looked. They had only captured two humans and six faunus to become circus acts, and had incurred losses in some of his "human resources".

"Should've used more Grimm to subdue that stupid village completely... They had too many warriors," Klaver said, taking off his top hat and running a hand through his grey hair.

He reached into his desk and pulled out a stack of maps from within.

"Based on the movements of the nomadic villages, a trip to any of the other ones would waste a lot of time and resources. Plus, I need to send a message to these parts that the Clover Troupe is not to be trifled with..." Klaver gave a crooked smile of perfect white teeth, sticking a thumbtack into the dot on the map labeled "Catalhoyuk" and twisting it in forcefully for good measure.

"I think it's time we take another visit to Catalhoyuk..."

* * *

And we're done here.

So, if you're paying attention to this chapter, you'll notice that there's something off about Naruto and Gaara. I won't explain what it is; hopefully you picked up on it yourself.

Anyway, that's all for now, so I'll see you next time.

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	4. Archaeopteryx

And here's the next chapter.

 **crisg99:** Well, yeah. Funny you should bring that up, you may have noticed a theme naming going on. The chapter titles are all terms or things relevant to archaeology or paleontology. That even extends to some names in the world itself, that is, the things that aren't named after colors.

* * *

Chapter 4: Archaeopteryx

Qrow's sword twitched in anticipation for battle, but before he and Gaara could cross blades (or sand, in this case) in the middle of a relatively cramped and tight bar, the sleazy drunk was interrupted by one of the few things he feared.

"Now, hold up just a second there, you two! If y'all are gonna fight for whatever stupid reason men have, then you best not do it in my bar. Or else, it's _your_ head that's gonna be on a platter, Qrow..." the bartender seethed, to which Qrow winced.

"Uh... yeah. I'll just take this one outside then..."

Gaara sighed in disgust and followed the man outside, pushing past the double doors and into the dusty roads for what was sure to be the definition of a Mexican standoff. The redheaded bartender gave one final worried look at Gaara, and one final angry look at Qrow before closing and locking up her inn to make sure her building wouldn't get caught in the crossfire.

Similarly, people meandering around in the streets saw the experienced huntsman with the giant sword and accordingly made themselves scarce. A few brave ones stayed on the porch, hoping to get a glimpse of the ensuing battle.

Qrow drew his sword, and Gaara crossed his arms. They stood in silence for a few moments as Qrow leveled a cocky smirk at the boy. But, it was becoming clear that Gaara would not move unless Qrow attacked first. In fact, the boy would probably have preferred to just sit there and wait for Qrow to go away.

"What's wrong, kid? Not gonna attack? Can't say you're making a good first impression; it looks like you don't have the guts to be a warrior if you just stand there. Come on, I'll even give you a free first shot!" Qrow goaded.

Gaara blinked.

"Ooh, okay Mr. Tough Guy! Not gonna take it, huh? Well, I'll have to get you to fight back somehow, just don't blame me when you start bleeding!" Qrow said, before deciding to let his actions do the talking.

Gaara blinked again when Qrow appeared within reaching distance of the Jinchuuriki. He had already seen the sand barrier, and thus wasn't surprised when his sword slashed about halfway through the automatic sand shield.

Qrow narrowed his eyes and grunted, letting go of his blade and leaving it embedded in the sand. His fist shot out, which would've left a mark on Gaara's face if it had connected. But, while the wall of sand incapacitated Qrow's weapon for the time being, that when Qrow's fist shot out, another wall of sand shot out seemingly out of nowhere and blocked that too.

"That sand's a pain in the ass, kid. Hard to believe that you have such an advanced control of your semblance at such a young age... Your reflexes and timing when blocking attacks are remarkable, as well..." Qrow said.

" _Semblance?_ " Gaara thought. He kept learning new terms in this place; it was so far alien to anything from the Elemental Countries. Qrow hadn't used any chakra yet, and he seemed to be under the impression that his sand was a "semblance" something or other, not to mention Qrow hadn't seemed to figure out that the Suna no Tate was automatic as opposed to controlled by Gaara's will.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. That punch wasn't that great, certainly nothing when compared to the Taijutsu of other people he had fought, such as Rock Lee. Gaara didn't realize that, but it was somewhat of a hat for almost all huntsmen. Very proficient when their practiced weapons, but not particularly effective without them. At least, they could incapacitate a civilian, but to someone trained in Taijutsu...

Of course, it wasn't like Gaara was skilled in Taijutsu either.

Nevertheless, he grabbed his sword and pulled it from the sand in a quick display of skill and precision. He rotated his arm, giving a timed combo of about three identical slashes, one after the other.

The sand popped up and blocked them yet again, but from the look on his face Qrow was expecting that to happen at that point. Without missing a beat, Qrow grabbed the dull end of his blade and pulled it back. The sword was compartmentalized.

" _He doesn't move around, and he hasn't attacked yet. Judging by his words, he has no intention of doing so as long as he thinks he can get around with just defending. I still haven't convinced him that this fight isn't pointless, and if I can't pressure him even a little bit, then he won't attack. In other words, it's like trying to crack a really tough eggshell..._ " the experienced hunter thought.

And then, he fired the gun worked into his weapon. There came a loud crack as the fire dust pellet shot out of the barrel of his weapon, and Gaara actually flinched at the loud noise he had never heard before.

Just one bullet burned a hole right through his sand shield, impacting against his right shoulder as it finally lost momentum and puttered out after almost drilling a hole through the Suna no Yoroi.

Gaara looked down at the affected shoulder in confusion and surprise, where little bits of sand were falling off from the damaged Suna no Yoroi. He covered his hand over the area, making sure that he was not harmed by the strange method of attack.

No blood. That was good.

Well, at the very least Qrow seemed to finally wake Gaara up. Gaara removed his hand at his chest perplexed, finding nothing of the attack that managed to pierce his Suna no Tate.

He clenched his fists and channeled his chakra, raising his shield around himself in a complete sphere to protect himself like an eggshell protecting the yolk. Now in complete darkness and protected, there was only one thing left for Gaara to do.

"San no Mai..." he said, activating his signature third eye as he covered his own left one. The third eye of sand formed right outside the container that Gaara had encased himself in, hidden well enough to be right outside the view of Qrow while being perfect for looking at him.

Qrow fired more fire dust bullets from the interior of his sword, but Gaara had raised the defense and thickness level of his shield when he encased himself in it, so they didn't go further than half the width of the shield before losing all momentum and fizzling out.

"Hmm, that's thick stuff..." Qrow said while smirking, though Gaara couldn't hear him from within his protective barrier, "Maybe fire ain't the way to go, but at the end of the day, it's just sand..."

He fired again, but this time the sound was of a slightly different pitch. Not by much, but Gaara were not in his near-soundproof barrier he would've noticed the difference. He did however notice through the third eye the mist trail that was left in the barrel of Qrow's weapon as he fired it. It was a cool whitish-blue rather than the red of the fire dust.

" _Oh, crap!_ " Gaara thought a little too late as he felt chilly air wash over him from even inside the barrier of sand. Suddenly, sheets of ice froze the outside layer of his shield before flowering to the interior and freezing his entire barrier.

The third eye swiveled around as Qrow suddenly pushed the offensive after disabling the use of Gaara's sand. With his weapon back in the form of a sword, one quick clatter against the frozen sand was all it took to shatter the shield.

Pieces of the shattered barrier flew everywhere, a few sharpened ones just whizzing by both Gaara and Qrow's faces. Qrow saw his opportunity, grinning wildly as he clenched his blade tight and tried to bring Gaara into a close-quarters fight where the huntsman would have the advantage.

And when he slashed at Gaara, he succeeded in doing the very thing he had set out for when he started a fight with the Jinchuuriki. He pushed Gaara enough for the boy to attack him.

The shield wasn't back yet, but a stream of sand rose out of his gourd and struck the ground near Qrow's feet in attempt to draw the fight away. At this point, it was becoming a struggling to put the fight where each of them would be most effective. Close-quarters for Qrow, and distance for Gaara. Qrow tutted and flipped the sand stream harmlessly, but the sand moved and undulated like a whip, as more sand rose from his gourd to attack at different angles.

Yet, there were things Qrow didn't know about Gaara's ability yet, and he didn't know the environment they were surrounded by was of advantage to Gaara. A desert, to be precise. Even the roads of Cerro Gordo were covered in dust and sand.

He couldn't control all manners of sand per se, but it didn't take long for Gaara to turn any sand into "his" sand, so to speak. And while he was whipping his sand around in a flurry of attacks, Qrow suddenly found his ankles locked in a layer of sand shackles, freshly created by Gaara via the sand on the ground of Main Street.

"What the hell?" the huntsman asked. His feet wouldn't budge. He grunted in annoyance, before noticing the very slight off coloring that separated natural sand from Gaara's. He whistled; the control Gaara had over sand was truly incredible. He had never fought against an ability like this.

"Ah..." Qrow said cockily as he finally noticed, before hefting his sword over his shoulder. Quick as a flash, he cut the hardened sand in two binding his feet in two, with such remarkable precision that he didn't cut his own feet.

And when he was able to regain his mobility, he jerked and dodged around the various streams of sand that had clearly tried to capture him once Gaara had snared him.

"Impressive, kid! You have all the makings of a fighter. I knew there was something about you the moment I saw you!" Qrow said energetically. "You have the fighting ability to become a huntsman, and with training the mentality of one will come along with it!"

Gaara blinked, and Qrow was gone. A split second later, and the sand boy felt the cold steel of a blade tip being pressed against his jugular, Qrow taking advantage of an opportunity while the Suna no Tate was still down.

"It would be a shame to throw away all that potential. If you wanna accept my offer, then look around for an island called Patch and get yourself there. There's an academy called Signal on the lsland, one of the premier combat schools in the world. It's the first step to joining my field of work."

Gaara was unflappable in the face of the giant sword that was currently holding him hostage. He had had quite enough of the prattle that this drunken fool was spewing, no matter how sober he may have seemed.

A wave of sand burst out from both Gaara's gourd and the ground around them, flowing backwards from the Shukaku host like a miniature wave heading for its target.

"Whoa!" Qrow called out, yet he recovered his footing in a heartbeat as he took the offensive, slicing through waves and tendrils of sand with his cleaver. Turning up the speed, he attacked with a barrage of swipes and slashes, before flashing to the side. This kid clearly didn't think much of his offer, but perhaps he would change his mind after a little more intense of a display.

"Think about the offer, kid!" he called, rushing Gaara at top speed. The sand couldn't keep up, and Qrow appeared right next to the Jinchuuriki after bypassing his shield, grabbing Gaara's shirt with his free hand.

Gaara grunted as the two of them went barreling forward; they were off the ground after the two had collided, directly on a collision course with the closest building. Crusty cowboys and ranchhands that were spectators to the fight made panicked grunts and scattered, before Gaara and Qrow went straight through the right wall and window of the saloon they had been in before.

Qrow's aura protected him from the impact and the debris, while Gaara's sand shield did the same for him. The boy lay suspended in a cushion of sand while Qrow pushed a broken wooden board and some drywall off of him.

Gaara leveled a stoic glare at the man as the sand pushed him to his feet as if it had a life of its own, the draft from the inside of the building coming from the gigantic hole that was now in the inn.

"What in tarnation?" a female voice cried.

"Ah, crap..." Qrow's face fell. Gaara recognized the shrill, indignant voice as the owner of the Inn, who suddenly now had a gigantic hole in her property because of their fight. Apparently Qrow noticed it too.

Gaara blinked and raised an eyebrow when the older man wrapped his cape around himself in a practiced gesture, and a split-second later the man was gone, replaced by a pitch-black crow.

The corvid cawed and flapped its wings, making a convenient escape through the hole that it made in the first place.

Gaara stood in the rubble of what was once the Inn, watching as the man turned crow fly away into the sun. He was unharmed, but no doubt the redheaded woman wished her parlor was in the same condition.

"The asshole ran away! I can't believe him!" she said in shock and fury as she ran up to him and knelt before the remains of her ruined bar.

"Huntsman, my ass! Thinks he can just waltz into our town, trash the place, and then take off like nothing happened. He doesn't think about these things, none of them do!"

"Think about what, may I ask?" Gaara said, bending over to start picking up pieces of glass. A crowd had gathered, made of patrons from the bar who were now in disbelief of their ruined Inn. It was just a miracle that no one got hurt in the crossfire.

The bartender sighed.

"The huntsmen don't think about their actions, sometimes! I don't know what they're teaching them in these schools, but the motto of the huntsmen is to be the defenders of mankind. They are always supposed to help their fellow man, but quite a few of them end up doing some unsavory work under no allegiance to anyone but themselves. A trained warrior in a status like no other, completely unchecked. Even the tamer ones like ol' Qrow don't always think about how civilian lives go. My inn is how I make my livelihood. Out here in Cerro Gordo, most of us struggle to make end's meat. We can't possibly afford setbacks like these..." the woman sighed, "I don't know what I'm going to do now..."

"Isn't there some way to check these so-called huntsmen?"

"I wish! We can try to chase an unsavory one out of town, but the truth is they're just so powerful there's no way we could keep them from doing what they want. We can't sue them for damages as well; like I said, they're a protected class. They hold an extraordinary amount of power in different avenues such as government, schools, and military. They keep us safe from the Grimm, even if I do think they're fanning the flames of Grimm attack as much as they're helping..."

Gaara's mind drifted to ninjas; in a way these huntsmen didn't seem all that different. A class of people who held untold amounts of combat ability and gained a lot of political and military power because of that.

And like all humans, sometimes they went rouge and unchecked. But even without that, ninja didn't have such an esteemed title such as "protector of humanity". They were to fight on behalf of their village and nation, regardless of right and wrong. Nothing more, nothing less.

"I'm sorry about that, sweetie. You don't want to listen to me ramble about that old drunk, considering you got the worst of it. Attacking a kid right out of the blue, hmph... And then pushing him straight through a damn wall!" the bartender snorted.

"It's fine. I may be young, but where I come from people my age are more than used to fighting."

"I can see that. You were really somethin' out there, keeping up with a full-trained huntsman! I guess the "parents" question I asked you was way off-base then; you clearly can handle yourself."

Gaara hummed.

"So, are you going to go to Vale now and begin looking for your home? Or are you going to follow Qrow's path? I would advise against it, personally. I would just go on and continue with what you were doing. No good comes from getting involved with that man..."

"I honestly have no idea what he was blabbering on about, though. He seemed to have taken a vested interest in myself, claiming I had potential to be a huntsman. That is specifically what he told me during our fight."

"The jackass may not look it, but he is actually one of the most renowned teachers at a place called Signal, one of the most prestigious combat schools in Vale. You look around the right age to join a combat school, as a matter of fact. He's got a keen eye, that one. My guess is that he wasn't necessarily looking for you, but once he saw you he figured you'd make good huntsman material, so he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. But you fight well; who knows how many years you would be pushed up if you joined a school. Four years there, and you graduate to the next level and join a huntsmen academy. Another four years and you become a fully-fledged one. Whatever the case, Qrow has connections. He has seen what you can do firsthand and he clearly wants you, or should I say your ability. Huntsmen have a very hands-on way of scouting potential ones, but if you wish to take a different path you may find them to be... pushy."

"You're more familiar with this area than I am. What would you recommend my course of action to be? Should I continue on to the capital city of Vale, or should I seek out this island named Patch?"

"'S up to you, hun. I would recommend heading to Vale; it's the largest city in the kingdom and you'll probably find what you need there. Beacon Academy is there too, so if you do decide to pursue the path of a huntsman you'll have access to that."

Gaara thanked the woman and helped her clean up the rest of the mess. Qrow's words rang in his head that entire time; he ended up not telling him that much, but if he decided to obey the man he could easily find out more once he got there.

First and foremost, getting home should be a priority. He had no desire to make a home in this new world, much less become one of their warriors of humanity. Humanity as a concept wasn't something that Sabaku no Gaara fought for, regardless of how different he was from his former self.

He should have no desire to see this through, but... every opportunity existed in this world for him to lose his way. He was a ninja and a Jinchuuriki; he never saw himself becoming one of these so-called huntsman. But, in the event that things turned sour in the search for his home in Vale, perhaps this caste of warriors would lend him greater chances in trying to find it.

He bid goodbye to the bartender and Inn owner, not really having a need to stay there for the night. She had kindly given him a map to Vale, after figuring out he didn't possess the technological bauble known as a Scroll.

And with that in mind, Gaara set out north through the desert towards his destination of the capital city.

* * *

 _One week later..._

"Whatcha reading?" Naruto asked Flidais, who was clearly reading a newspaper she had gathered from the supply cart Arteshir and the others brought in from their trip into Mistral proper.

Flidais gave him a once over, scoffing at him in disgust before she turned back to her reading. A bandage was wrapped around her cranium with a few other smaller ones in other places, the deer woman having been injured in a Grimm battle from two days ago. They had been coming near the village like mad for the past week. There was scarcely a waking moment when they weren't being attacked by Grimm, and it was a constant battle for everyone in the village, including Naruto.

Flidais of course was the one who noticed that Grimm attacks increased once Arteshir accepted Naruto into the village. Even if had proven himself to not be part of that accursed circus troupe, Flidais knew. This boy was _wrong;_ she could feel it in her bones. A human boy of around thirteen who would seem to be a combat prodigy for his age. Ha! If that were all he was, he wouldn't attract so many Grimm.

Too bad Arteshir didn't see him that way, and their village leader was the only one who kept her on (barely) civil terms with the boy, and what prevented her from slitting his throat while he slept.

Once she raised the newspaper above her head, Naruto squinted to make out the characters on the front page.

They seemed like blurry nonsense at first, but looking at them more he was able to piece together what they were saying.

" _Huh? Weird..._ " Naruto thought, not paying much mind to it. These weren't characters he should exactly know, but there were more pressing matters to attend to.

"So, a volcano eruption in Atlas?" he asked, reading the big bold letters plastered all over the front page, along with the picture of an city in the kingdom of Atlas that had apparently been damaged.

"That's what they're calling it..." Flidais said offhandedly, grumpy as ever. Over the last week, Naruto had tried to get Flidais to open up. Arteshir did say there was a softer side to her.

"You don't think it was a volcano?" Naruto asked, tilting his head quizzically.

"There aren't any active volcanoes anywhere near the area that was hit by damages. It wasn't a volcano, and the perceptive folks in Atlas will pick up on that. Still, won't help them get any closer to what actually happened by figuring that out."

Naruto looked at the date of the paper. Arteshir had caught him up with timekeeping and the current date, and he could tell that this particular paper was from above five days ago. So, just a couple days after he would've arrived in the village.

Naruto put Catalhoyuk's slow information gathering out of his mind for the moment, and went back to preparations. He heard someone shout "prepare the dust cannons!" loudly along with the rumbling of wheels moving along the village.

Naruto couldn't say they were in a good spot. Arteshir was worried; they all were. The past week's worth of battle of Grimm was rife with injuries and exhaustion to many of Catalhoyuk's fighters.

"I see something!" Flidais and Naruto both perked up when one of the stationed village watches began to holler. Could it possibly be the Clover Troupe; everyone knew they were coming. It was merely a question of when.

"Just a beowulf!" he called a few seconds later. Flidais signed; yet another Grimm attack. That didn't mean they could relax though, despite it just being a mere Beowulf. Last time the Clover Troupe had attacked, they had unleashed the Grimm they had in captivity. There was no tactic too dirty that they wouldn't use.

"Thought so. Hey, Red! Go and take care of the Beowulf for me, would ya?" Arteshir called.

Though, when the Catalhoyuk warrior went out to kill the Beowulf, Naruto realized they had a power advantage and wouldn't _need_ to resort to dirty tactics to win. As seen by the Goliath that rose over the treeline when the warrior went out there and was promptly gored on the giant elephant's tusks.

There was something about seeing a hulking man scream and thrash in his final moments before he was upended off the tusk and ripped practically to shreds by other form of Grimm.

And with that grisly introduction, the settlement of Catalhoyuk stood tense and ready for action, as the rapidly increasing plethora of Grimm were not the only things that were making their way out from within the underbrush. The sound of squeaky wheels going over the landscape could be heard over the din as well.

"LAAAAADDDIIIEEEEEEES AANNNNNNNNNDDDD GENNNNNNNTLEMEN!" a voice rang out as dozens of traveling carts moved out into the clearing that surrounded the village of Catalhoyuk.

The one barking was the first human to come into view alongside the slowly moving carts. Dressed in the typical white and red suit of a circus barker; it was not Otto van Klaver.

His voice was so loud that everyone in the village could clearly hear it, and they were all prepared to head to the village gates at a moment's notice. Arteshir cursed when he heard the barker's voice, directing traffic in quick response.

"They're here! They're here! Everyone to their stations. Prepare to fight for our home!" he called in a deep, booming voice as people loaded their weapons and rushed to their designated areas.

"They're starting with the circus barker. Trying to lure in villages under the pretense of family-friendly fun, when in reality it's nothing more than an ambush. It's how they succeed in most of their attacks; villages are woefully unprepared for it. But, _they_ should know that _we_ know better after surviving one of their attacks," Flidais said next to Naruto as they took their stations on the right flank of the village.

The deer woman pulled back one of her dust arrows, her black ponytail bobbing as she did so. She held it steady, ready to fire on the first thing that made a hostile action from their enemy, be it human or Grimm.

"Something's wrong..." Flidais said, a tinge of fear entering her voice, "They can't possibly have that many Grimm..." she said, as more carts came out into view. The circus barker continued his pitch anyway.

"Step right up to see the most death-defying acts the world has ever seen! Gawk at the strangest and most deadly of Grimm completely safe within captivity. Nothing is impossible with the Clover Troupe. Our amazing acts will guarantee you leave with a smile on your face and begging for me! That is..." the barker's voice turned ominous, almost sinister.

"If you come visit our show with an open mind and a smile on your face, the Clover Troupe will be a friend to you! But... should you try and hinder our act, you will find yourself at the mercy of the wild."

It was a threat directly to the people of Catalhoyuk; all of the warriors in the village realized that bringing out the circus barker was just for show. A beating of the war drum if you will.

The Clover Troupe had come back to declare its sweet vengeance after suffering losses the first time they attacked the settlement, this time preparing in earnest for it.

When Naruto strained his eyes to look at the identical rows of cages being hauled out, he saw why Flidais was so concerned. The screeches and roars of the creatures within told him everything. There were more Beowolves and Ursae than expected, as well as some rarer varieties that no one would have expected them to have.

Some gryphons and boarbatusks, and even a deathstalker or two contained within largest, most reinforced cages. The Goliath that had lurked its way near the village grounds was chained up by a multitude of restraints and forced to walk alongside the circus. Flidais grimaced further, and was about to turn around to go warn Arteshir, but Naruto stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Trust me, they already know they've got numbers..." he said, his eyes panning over to the other warriors in the village who could clearly see their opposition, and their own morale drop because of it.

Too bad the enemy was not going to let them off easy, because as soon as the circus barker cleared safely out of the way, the latches on the Grimm cages were undone by a couple of strong circus workers for every one, the doors now open for the creatures of darkness to wreak havoc at their leisure...

* * *

And we're done here.

So, who better to deconstruction the huntsmen ideal than Qrow. There will be lots of deconstructions in this story, and first on desk is the ideal of the huntsmen. This could apply to a lot of settings with supernatural powers (including Naruto's ninjas), but since we're in Remnant I'll stick it to the huntsmen. What would a world be like with a status of warrior like that, with abilities like those, and some of the personalities running around? I mean, Qrow's a great fighter and probably has a sharp mind befitting a huntsman, but most of the time he's piss-ass drunk and the first thing he does in the series itself is cause a scene. He's not an unsavory character or anything, but it's not out of the question to think that some of his character traits would have... consequences.

Suna no Tate: Shield of Sand

Suna no Yoroi: Armor of Sand

That's all for now,

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	5. Primordial

And here we go.

Well, Volume 4 dropped. With this story and Imitato, makes me wonder what's going to happen to shake up how I'm going to have to write things. It's the trouble of writing for something that is still ongoing as you go, new canon gets introduced. I had this problem when I was writing for just Naruto, but it seems like RWBY was less well-established or earlier on in the lore.

One thing in particular I noticed, is that we caught a glimpse of life outside the kingdoms. And I gotta say, it's a lot less derelict than I pictured. Living conditions based on the housing and clothing don't seem much different than what I've noticed inside the kingdoms.

* * *

Chapter 5: Primordial

The site of Catalhoyuk wasn't just a battlefield; it was a massacre of unprecedented proportions. No matter how prepared the small village in the wilds thought they were, it wasn't enough. They were getting pushed by the floods of Grimm that the Clover Troupe was releasing, and they didn't have the mobilization to strike back at the source.

In more ways than one, even. They couldn't get the head of the figurative Nevermore, but they also couldn't even clip its wings. It was like attacking the feathers it would fire. There were simply more where that came from.

Amongst all the mingling cages and garishly dressed employees, there was something missing. Something that Flidais noticed almost immediately since her eyes were searching for the man she hated the most. Hopes and expectations were two different things, and the fact of the matter is that she expected the ringmaster to be in the safest possible place.

She poked her head out of her enclave, placing a palm on the wooden stakes that she and Naruto were crouched directly underneath.

"Damn it! There's no sign of van Klaver anywhere! No way the ringleader himself would endanger himself on the front lines, I guess. He's gonna let his monsters do the work for him!" Flidais hissed, crouching down below roughly and not caring when she elbowed Naruto in the face by accident.

Naruto winced and rubbed his cheek in irritation, before he looked beyond the treeline.

"Hey! What's that behind all the Grimm cages?" Naruto asked, pointing a finger to where he was referring. Flidais growled and squinted her eyes, looking beyond the Grimm cages and their retainers to see the carriage containing the portable big top itself.

There were other cages there too. Smaller than the ones that would contain the Grimm, and several of them were completely empty. They hung in the back, being tending to by their own circus employees. Naruto had seen a shock of colored fabric moving back there somewhere and poking something with a prod, belonging to one of the garishly dressed circus employees who tended the cages.

"Faunus cages..." Fladais growled in pure hatred, "When not entertaining the masses, they don't care if those eyesores are on view for everyone to see. They're going to use the Grimm to weaken our village, and when we've effectively surrender, those empty cages among their ranks are going to house whoever they want from the village."

Some manner of Grimm had already entered the clearing outside the front of Catalhoyuk, but Naruto was uneasy.

"I've got a bad feeling about this. I can't shake that they're going to send more than Grimm at us. There are humans employed by the Clover Troupe as we can see; they can be sneakier than these monsters."

Naruto furrowed his brow in thought. If there was anyone who knew the danger fellow people could pose, it was a ninja. Sneaky... that described any number of their species. Ninja made their living on being sneaky, well, when they weren't being flashily powerful that is.

Did these people really need to make a stealthy maneuver though? Arteshir had told them that it was a staple of the Clover Troupe, but they seemed to be simply trying to overwhelm with brute force.

" _Sneakier, huh? Sneakier..._ "

Naruto's eyes widened, and he climbed to his feet immediately and frantically, leaving his post as his legs moved in the direction of the village's rear. Flidais reacted to him as well, jumping up and roaring at him.

"What are you doing? Where are you going? Get back here, boy! You have to protect your post!" Flidais spat at him, before she lowered her shoulders in resignation as she watched the boy she didn't like run off, past the houses and tents to the less protected rear end of the village.

Her words fell on deaf ears, as Naruto ran to the other side of the village, abandoning his post. The front end of the village was the perfect avenue for attack, a grassy field where the marsh receded and allowed humanity to build on. If the wagons of the circus were going to come from somewhere, it would have to be there. The terrain behind the village turned into a steep slope leading back into more marsh not long after exiting the village, not possible to bring any sort of transportation up.

But... no one in the village would expect anyone coming from that side because their natural defenses had helped them before.

When he got to the other side, he cursed when his fears were confirmed.

They had been so prepared about the front of the village, where the circus and the Grimm were coming. They had even known that the Clover Troupe would play dirty, but it took the lack of humans from the front side for Naruto to realize it.

Many circus employees were coming from behind the village. They had either snuck around while the village was occupied, or took a different route and climbed up the slope. To top it all off, there were enough trees and shrubs in the area between the slope and the town. They had enough undergrowth to blend in and surprise them while they were distracted with the Grimm. Then, who knew how many civilian targets they could snatch under the nose of the warriors.

There were about a dozen circus employees hiding in the underbrush behind the village, each concealing themselves in their own particular manner and waiting for the right moment, when the warriors were all forcibly drawn away from their posts. Though by ninja standards they weren't doing a good job of hiding, as to the trained eye they could picked out one by one.

He even saw a shock of blue hair sticking out from behind a nearby bush. Naruto let a smirk cross his face as he casually reached into his weapons pouch and slipped his finger through the ring on one of his kunai. Without even hesitating, Naruto lobbed the knife at the blue-haired hider first. When the blade whizzed through the underbrush, there was a cry of shock followed by a body flopping out into plain sight in order to avoid the thrown blade.

Already he heard the others bristle in their hiding places, probably from a mixture of stress and irritation at their companion for blowing their cover. But Naruto was focused on the circus employee that he attacked.

It was a boy around maybe eleven or twelve, so perhaps only a little younger than Naruto himself. The shock of electric blue hair was easily the most noticeable thing, but he was dressed in the garish red jacket that was one of the standard circus uniforms.

"God damn it! He saw your stupid hair, Vasilias! We were supposed to sneak up on them while they're distracted with the Grimm. So, what are you gonna tell Mister Klaver now that you're blown our cover!"

The boy picked himself off the ground, the very definition of misery. Naruto pinpointed the voice who reprimanded as coming from a nearby tree, but the other employee didn't step out of his hiding place.

"You blew our cover; you beat up that kid who thought to check behind the village!"

Well, apparently the circus employees didn't have any love lost for their coworkers. That was good for Catalhoyuk, at least. This kid decided to work for a corrupt circus; though Naruto couldn't help but notice how miserable he was while doing so. It made him wonder about the recruitment processes of the employees.

One by one though, the other employees began to exit their hiding spots. Most of them were older than the blue-haired boy, with a variety of builds and uniforms.

"So it's settled, then! Neptune, you take care of that kid while the rest of us enter the village and raid it for all it's worth." one of them said, as the other twenty-five or so circus employees laughed uproariously and began to walk forward. Naruto closed his eyes and focused on the sounds of clashing weapons and roaring Grimm.

That didn't take long. The two sides had already engaged.

Naruto frowned, putting his hands into a seal. A line of a hundred clones popped into existence while flanking the entrance to the village that the circus group was trying to break into.

The smiles were instantly wiped off their faces. The demoralized look on the newly dubbed Neptune's dropped farther than a stone down a well. The lanky boy's eyes panned between the many different identical versions of Naruto, finally settling on the one he thought made the clones.

The other employees backed up almost instinctively.

"W-Well Neptune, hop to it!" one of them said, and like clockwork all of the garishly dressed circus employees began to back up from the line of clones slowly.

"Eh! You can't expect me to fight all these guys! I'm just one kid; I don't even get paid all that much!" Neptune whined, desperately seeking support from some of his co-workers.

One of the circus employees stopped backing away a moment sooner than his colleagues. It was the one who had been screaming at Neptune the entire time.

"GET THE FUCK UP THERE AND KILL THIS FUCKING KID ALREADY, YOU SHITTY BRAT!" he roared, a vein popping on his forehead and spittle flying from his mouth, a fleck of which landed on Neptune's face.

Neptune flinched at the words and spittle, and Naruto felt a stab of pity enter his system. Nevertheless, he stood his ground on the flank outside the village, and he squashed the pity when the sounds of Grimm roars resonated from the other side. The others needed him to do this, even if they may have wondered where he had run off to.

The blue-haired boy in front of Naruto seemed to gain some semblance of bravery, for he pulled out a weapon in its compact mode. It instantly morphed into what appeared to a plasma gun that was much too big for his small body.

His eyes panned through the line of clones, before settling on one. He held the barrel up to his shoulder, and fired a small burst of blue plasma at one of the clones, who disappeared into a puff of smoke. But that was just one clone, and Naruto hardly seemed torn up about its loss.

He sent three clones forward, all of them rushing at once which was a usual Uzumaki tactic. The three clones surrounded Neptune, encircling him on all sides and cutting off any maneuverability.

Like that, they successfully managed to restrain Neptune. One of the clones roughly grabbed the other kid's collar, nearly ripping the fabric and slamming the boy's body into the dirt.

Against all odds, Neptune managed to hold onto his weapon, but his face was still planting in the dirt as he felt one of the clone's feet press into his back. The others cracked their knuckles and prepared to administer another beatdown, but Neptune on instinct pressed a button on his gun and configured it into the alternate form of a guandao.

The electric blade of the weapon took two of the clones off guard, and they were caught against the end of the blade as Neptune shifted the weapon. One of the clones dispelled was the one holding him down, so Neptune spat out a mouthful of dirt and lashed out with the bladed weapon, catching the third clone and dispelling that one too.

Bruised and scuffed, Neptune got to his feet and sputtered out more dirt. He lofted his weapon, but the line of Naruto clones glared at him and held out their hands in a stop gesture.

"Huh?" Neptune asked, raising an eyebrow. Naruto shook his head, and his eyes turned to the cowardly group of circus workers that left their fighting to a single kid.

They were merely milling around. Some of them had their weapons drawn or had their trigger fingers on their holsters. About half of them had dust-powered rifles as weapons, which could be problematic if he was rushing in alone. The others befitting their circus status had electric whips.

The real Naruto took a step forward, and Neptune and the others tensed. Neptune stood dumbfounded, shakily raising his weapon as Naruto stalked in his direction, only to walk right past him.

Naruto locked eyes with the de-facto leader of the circus goons, eyes narrowing into an angry glower.

"O-Open fire!" the man said, the same one who had berated Neptune and backed off like a coward. The goons with guns did as they were told and shot round after round at Naruto.

He just kept walking without a care in the world, but was halted as a fire dust shell hit him square in the chest. He winced for a moment, and the circus employees seemed to cheer.

"Yes!" the leader screamed, only to gawk when the boy disappeared into a puff of smoke, only to be replaced by a medium sized stone as if he were never there.

"What!"

He turned his head frantically around before a fist impacted said face. The impact sent him sailing to the ground, but a clone popped into existence right under his back and pushed the man right back up.

The real Naruto contorted himself around his back, pinning his limbs and wrapping an arm around his jugular. Not one minute too soon, as he pivoted the leader just as soon as the other gun goons pointed their weapons at him.

Only now there was a human shield in the way, and the man knew it.

"I-Idiots! Lower your weapons! Don't you realize that I'm in the way!" he screamed frantically, the forearm pressed against his throat making it somewhat croaky and difficult to speak.

One of the other circus goons, a skinny bald man with a snake tattoo snickered as he looked down his sights.

"Heh heh... so? You told us to open fire, and that's what we're doin'."

And with that, eleven guns in rhythm open fired without any hesitation. Upon the stream of red and yellow projectiles, there came a puff of smoke, as well as a body that became riddled with holes as the fire and electric dust tore through the man.

When the man collapsed, it was with a sickening crunch onto a rock that had randomly appeared there via Naruto's Kawarimi. The real Naruto didn't appear beside the goons again, since he had used a rock from the other side of the village for his second substitution.

Good thing he added that extra Kawarimi to be on the safe side; he didn't expect these gunmen to be so willing to riddle their "friend" with holes, though in hindsight...

The line of clones protecting the village still remained, but Naruto was waiting for an opportunity anyway to get out of there when he heard the roars of Grimm increase in intensity. He just didn't think it would come at that particular moment, but he took the rock for his Kawarimi from the other side of the village.

But, when he disappeared from the rear of the village, he didn't realize that that remaining circus workers stared down the line of clones with determination on their faces, up to and including Neptune. The blue-haired boy fired a blast at another clone in the line, drawing their attention after he popped one.

He hoped that line of clones he left would be enough to defend the village from backside invaders, but when he looked upon the battlefield for the first time, he realized he was probably needed over there.

"Naruto! Where have you been? Flidais told me you left your post and went running in some random direction!" he heard Arteshir bark, and Naruto easily picked out the huge lion man in the pandemonium.

"I was tending to some stuff. Some goons from the circus tried to sneak up from behind the village and pilfer some of our non-fighters. I think I've dealt with them for the time being..."

Arteshir blinked.

"Is that so? Good call, quick thinking. Who knows what could've happened if you didn't get over there in time. But more importantly, we're really on the ropes here. We've lost two dozen warriors already and the Grimm just keep coming!"

He was right. The strategy of the Clover Troupe was obvious. Crush them with brute force since they knew they could overwhelm them. And it was working too. Any of the Catalhoyuk's warriors hadn't had the opportunity to go on the attack, and the big top was simply sitting pretty on the other side of the bank. All of the forces had to remain near the village simply to ward off any oncoming Grimm.

But fighting the Grimm was like removing the tail from a lizard rather than it's head. They were sending out Grimm right now from their cages, but the employees and the leadership weren't trying to fight them directly. They were hanging out behind the treeline waiting like vultures.

What Catalhoyuk needed was a big attack to finish off all the Grimm at once.

" _I know just the thing..."_ Naruto thought as he bit into his thumb. After a few quick seals, he pressed his hand down onto the ground, expecting a spiderweb of seals to sprout and a puff of smoke to appear.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Nothing happened, not even the spiderweb of seals spreading out. Naruto grimaced at the lack of toad that he summoned as he stared blankly at the palm of his hand, not even a tadpole had come out. Perhaps it had something to do with his location?

A Beowolf pounced while Naruto was crouched over, but there was a crack as a force impacted its chest and sent it sprawling. Arteshir lowered his fist and glared at Naruto.

"Naruto! What are you doing? Look alive!"

Naruto shot up rigidly and blinked, pursing his mouth in a fish-like expression.

"Sorry!" he apologized, before quickly changing the subject, "Hey, can you help me clear a path to the big top over there? We're never going to get anywhere unless we take the head right now."

Arteshir grunted.

"Are you crazy? We've spread out all our warriors as is keeping the Grimm from trying to enter the village!" Arteshir roared back at him as he obliterated an Ursa with merely his palm.

"And how do you plan on coming out of this alive, huh? They have too many Grimm, and more of them are coming just by being attracted to the fight. How long do you think we can hold this back? If I can get through to the big top, I'm sure I can do something!"

Arteshir glowered in stress and anger, but he didn't exactly have a rebuttal to Naruto's argument. And after seeing what he could do for the last week, he was their ace in the hole. And looking around, while warriors holding down the village picked off Grimm that got close to the village, those outside were quickly getting overwhelmed.

There were hundreds of Beowolves and Ursae littering the battlefield in putrid rows of black. A few Deathstalkers were thrown in here and there along with the Boarbatusks, but thankfully they had no Nevermores.

Still though, there wasn't much room to even move the area was so packed with Grimm. Arteshir sighed, and with a spin kick flung a tornado of Grimm away from him.

"Fine..." he stated. Arteshir clenched his fists and his muscles bulged as he swung at a passing Beowolf. The stunned Grimm hit the deck, and yelped as Arteshir placed a foot at its back.

"Flidais! Get out here! The rest of you, redouble the efforts into protecting the front gates. You're all gonna have to pick up our slack, so be prepared!" the village leader said even as the deer woman perked up and stuck her head out from behind her post. As a ranged fighter, she was tasked with picking off threats from afar while simultaneously being part of the final defense of Catalhoyuk.

"What's up, chief?" she inquired once she arrived after shooting her way through a swath of Grimm to reach the two. Arteshir pointed beyond the treeline, to the red and white tent rising above the landscape.

"I need your help. You and I have the most firepower of all our warriors. Together, we need to cut a way through the Grimm so Naruto can to where van Klaver is surely hiding."

Flidais glared down at Naruto.

"Is that it, or are we really just making an escape route or a way for him to rejoin his comrades? How did he even know they would attack from the rear?"

"Would you stop it with that crap already?" The amount of bite in the imposing man's voice was enough to freeze even the surly woman, "Naruto here is the only reason some of our people haven't already been taken hostage by circus thugs. And would you look at how things are going? You gonna let your trust issues get in the way in yours... _our_ survival?" he spat.

Flidais took a step back, a sign of her nervousness. She didn't say anything, but she fixed Arteshir with an angry look. Her grey eyes were practically screaming.

" _You don't know the things he mumbles in his sleep. This thing is neither a human nor a faunus, and to think here I was worried about a simple circus employee in our midst..."_

But Arteshir stared her back just as intensely, urging Flidais to stop and think about their survival.

 _Thwip_!

Naruto blinked as an arrow of ice flashed between him and Arteshir and froze a contingent of a half dozen Grimm directly in his way. Their inhuman growls were silenced as they were frozen in a block of ice and snuffed out.

" _Fine..._ " she said tersely, "But on one condition! I'm coming with you, to confront that slime van Klaver face to face. _And to keep an eye on you to make sure you don't try anything..._ " she added the last part in her head.

"Stand back..." she said darkly, pulling out a special arrow from her quiver. Arteshir quirked an eyebrow and nodded slightly frantically at Naruto to do what he was told.

Flidais raised her metallic bow, notching the arrow with the black tip in place. She pulled back the bowstring, the tip glowing with gravity dust. The deer woman blew a strand of black hair away from her face, and then fired the arrow at the wall of Grimm coming from the direction of the big top.

The heavy arrow flew through the air aided by the aerodynamic propulsion of its shaft and feathers, but the gravity dust it was imbued with was the heaviest type of dust on the planet.

It bored through a Deathstalker, splitting it in half and sending both parts veering off to the side to disintegrate. After that, it hit a few Beowolves and Ursae behind it, before crashing with a thud into the dirt not far beyond and scattering more Grimm.

She fired another arrow, and another.

"I don't have an unlimited amount of these, so you two nimrods better help me!"

Arteshir smirked, and undid some buttons on his sleeves. After opening them up, he slid down two golden bracelets from his forearms to his wrists. After clacking them together, they began an enormous set of fighting gauntlets with the metal sculpting of a lion's head on the fist. They glowed with the residual power of his aura.

Naruto almost squealed in excitement as he saw the large weapons, swaying back and forth as he grinned at the sheer size of those things and the cool lion symbol. Arteshir wielded them with ease too.

"Okay, Naruto. I'll clear a path for you and Flidais now that she has thinned the numbers a bit with her gravity! Stay behind me and just pick off any that I don't get!"

Naruto didn't need any prompting, lobbing two more kunai at some stragglers after the three arrows Flidais fired made a hole in the Grimm. He began running through the swath of underbrush, through the treeline as he and Arteshir mowed down the lessened numbers of Grimm.

The lion man's punches were like mighty hammer strikes, almost augmented by the power of his steel gauntlets. Every Beowolf and Ursa he struck disintegrated almost instantly, and if they didn't disintegrate instantly then they were sent flying into other Grimm.

Yet despite all that, more Grimm just kept coming. The monsters were protecting the Clover Troupe well, even if they didn't exactly intend on doing so. They simply went for the most concentrated area of negative emotions, and kept coming in droves.

Arteshir panted, but he kept on pushing, pounding his way through the swarms of Grimm while trying to keep them off himself and the two people that were counting on him.

"Hyaa!"

With a quick burst, he split open a Beowolf that signified the end of the wave, but when he looked up there was still a wave of Grimm blocking them from reaching the Clover Troupe.

Arteshir cursed and backpedaled, getting himself to a more open clearing and avoiding taking the Grimm head on. Upon seeing that, Flidais stopped firing arrows, while he circled back behind Naruto and Flidais, and shook his head.

"They just. Keep. Coming. There's too many of them, and I don't think we'll be able to break through at this rate!"

The two adults and the young teen got together in a triangle formation, backs facing each other with their weapons drawn. Naruto looked around, eyes half-lidded as his mind made the mental connection. He could have simply used a Kawarimi to get over there, but ever since he arrived he noticed that he was using his clones in ways that he hadn't before.

Like when he created some on the wings of that Nevermore. He didn't know where he got the idea for that, nor did he realize that he could plant clones in a specific point in space at that.

He didn't see any other options, so he put his hands into his most familiar seal. He wouldn't physically be there, but having a few clones be there would allow him to scout out the area, sneak into the big top, and if the ringleader wasn't much of a fighter...

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

He executed the technique, but there was no puff of smoke in visible range. Despite not being able to see it, Naruto could feel the familiar exit of chakra that always accompanied the use of the jutsu.

He was confident in his clone's ability to execute, so he redoubled his efforts alongside Flidais and Arteshir.

Meanwhile, a singular clone popped into existence behind a tree near the circus camp. Essentially a scout at the moment, he hid in the underbrush and observed the location. There were circus employees running around tending to gates, but the Grimm were restless.

Most of them took a safe distance and opened the gates remotely, but the old cages were creaky and unreliable, and sometimes didn't respond to their remotes. Therefore they often had to open the cages by hand... and it wasn't a pretty sight.

One thin teenage employee was torn apart the moment he opened the cage right before Naruto arrived, before the Grimm he released sought out new prey.

 _Crash! Bang!_

That was the sound of the great strength of the Grimm pounding against their sturdy metal cages. From Beowolves to Deathstalkers, their crimson eyes were practically trained in unison and their pounding in sync.

"What's going on?" one of the frantic employees shouted, fiddling with his remote. Sure the Grimm got very unruly, but this display of aggression was unheard of even for the creatures of darkness.

The chattering of humans slowed down, and a tension fell over the battlefield. The sounds coming from the Grimm weren't a cacophony; they were a symphony that was slowly but surely getting softer.

The roars settled into low growls, and the pounding slowly became softer when the Grimm realized they couldn't escape the reinforced cages. The want and desire to rip and tear asunder didn't dissipate though.

They were all looking around for the source of negative emotion they knew was there, quietly and subtly yet intensely. Like he were a trophy on display that was just out of reach, and they were all doing it in unison.

The Naruto clone raised his head. A blue flag above the circus tent flew proudly, but at the foot of the establishment appeared to be a reinforced wooden wall, probably to keep their own Grimm out.

Yet behind and to the right of the big top was a wagon hitched directly to it.

* * *

And we're done here. Not much to say right now, so I'll just see you next time. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please leave a review...

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	6. Stratigraphy

And here we go... this is the redone version of Chapter 6. Because of popular feedback being negative, Chapters 6-8 will be redone. In addition, I found a new way to progress this story that I like better.

* * *

Chapter 6: Stratigraphy

"Well, I told her I'd bring her to confront the big cheese. She's probably gonna be mad at the original me..." the Naruto clone said to himself as he hopped out from his hiding place behind the trees and into the camp itself.

Naruto made his way further into the circus encampment as he walked in the direction of the giant tent, passing rows of Grimm cages. The red and white big top lay before them, with a large wagon parked next to it and behind it out of the way. They were both fortified by special defenses, probably to ward off any attacks from enemies and their own Grimm.

The fact that the Naruto clone arrived meant that the Grimm were acting strangely, which in turn meant that the circus employees were running around in a scramble. Some already released Grimm roamed the battlefield, but what caught the clone's eyes were not the Grimm, but the occupants of the other cages that lay scattered around near the back, not participating in the battle due to being too unfit.

"Faunus..." he uttered in horror. He had seen them before while looking over the horizon, but seeing it up close was a different story that was far, far more horrifying.

The only captive humanoid figures in the area had clearly defined animal features, from the tails to the ears to the claws. Among other assortments, there was a variety. What there wasn't variety in were the numerous bony, emaciated frames, grimy clothes, and clammy faces of people packed into cages.

The first cage had approximately six faunus crammed into it, with enough space to where could move around, but hardly suitable living conditions. There was a... bowl on the floor of the cage. A red one, shaped very similarly to a dog's food dish that when filled would be with some sort of disgusting slop. Each of the six faunus showed signs of physical abuse, cuts, scars, and bruises. A faunus with a dog tail who was staring at him with a forlorn look in his eyes had several old scars from whips inflicted upon his body. One could see those between the tears in the old grey fabric of what he was wearing.

And the smell... was of rotting food, vomit, blood, and feces all meshed together into a hellish stench of unparalleled proportions. Next to the cage was a barrel.

He thought back to what half of the circus employees seemed to use as weapons. Whips... electric whips to be precise. Inside that well-placed barrel next to this cage contained instruments of torture, stun rods, sharp batons, and more whips.

Next cage... there were eight of them in one. Like the other one, there was a bowl on the floor, which Naruto put the pieces together and determined was their feeding tray. Looking between the two cages, all fourteen faunus had the posture and gaze of a broken spirit. Could they even talk anymore, or had they been rendered mute? These ones had no scars from lashing, but they were just as emaciated. One of them, an old beaver faunus from the looks of it, was scarred in the entire right portion of his face, his eye a milky white.

A girl was missing her left hand, like it had been bitten clean off. And yet another was missing a dog ear, the clear symbol of what identified her as a faunus.

The Naruto clone growled, clenching his fist at his side as his face twisted in a scowl of anger. His stomach turned; he didn't dare look at any of the other cages. He stalked through the row of wagons, putting a knife into a Grimm's back as he sought out the one responsible.

His hand shot out and grabbed the ruff of a local circus employee who hadn't noticed him, too busy running around and trying to do his job. He gagged underneath the tight grip as his thumb pressed futilely against the remote control to the Grimm cages in a desperate attempt to try and ward off whoever was attacking.

"Where's the bastard who runs this place?" Naruto growled as he shook the ruff. The circus employee kept pressing the button and rearing his face to the side away from Naruto, as it was clear that he wasn't prepared for someone to break through into their camp.

The circus employee shivered, but he gestured to the wagon in the back, whether intentional or not. Like a trained tiger, Naruto's eyes snapped up to where the employee was looking.

The Naruto clone dropped the employee roughly as the fabric nearly ripped, who scrambled away as if his life were on the line. He heard a screech that came from somewhere far away from their position, but Naruto ignored it. He couldn't pay attention to every Grimm now; the warriors would take care of it. He had to cut the head off a snake.

He was making a beeline to the circus tent. Most of the employees must've been either holed up in there or out near Catalhoyuk, save for the ones tending the Grimm cages, who looked at him in confusion. Either they couldn't tell he was an enemy or didn't want to do something to compromise their orders, but they gave a wide berth to the angry blonde boy who was storming through the circus encampment.

Deciding to bypass entering the tent itself, the clone bounded over the protective wooden wall. With a furrowed brow, Naruto inhaled and exhaled heavily as he approached, walking ominously up to the wooden wagon that was hitched to the circus tent.

A red and purple tarp was draped over the wagon, but when the Naruto clone walked up to the wagon he hid himself in the awning. There were two small windows on the wagon, one on either end.

By looking through the window, he saw the plush interior of a one room dwelling and the man inside who ran the entire Clover Troupe. He was sitting at a small desk in the very corner of the wagon next to his bed, staring down some documents. The Naruto clone continued to stare at him for a few moments, before van Klaver moved his eyes upward and caught a flash of his blonde hair.

"Fuck it..." the Naruto clone said, pressing his face into the window and glaring angrily at the man. van Klaver jumped to his feet as if his desk was on fire, panic setting in his eyes he bounded across the room, trying to make it to the lock.

The Naruto clone was quicker; he was on the door with a couple seconds, peeling it open to come face-to-face with the one responsible for so much grief as he stood shadowed in the doorway.

van Klaver was not a large man, and the Naruto clone's eyes were able to meet the barely taller geriatric ringmaster. After the moment of panic, van Klaver's face began to crease while working to regain control over the situation.

Back up a little, giving himself a little roof and ease his posture a little bit, yet maintain eye contact He leaned against his own bed away from Naruto, and gave a cool smile, trying to show that he was intimidated by Naruto yet willing to iron things out via diplomacy while still stabbing you in the back in a way you wouldn't even realize. Try to make the intruder think he was in control of the situation, but not to the point where he gave up a mile.

Non-confrontational and on your side, ready with a solution that may benefit both parties. All the while he took note of the position of his scepter, yet did not even instinctively reach for it. Like many things, it was a dust weapon.

Otto van Klaver put on a jolly old smile that was his facade, the kindly ringmaster who brought joy and entertainment to all.

"What can I do for you, son?" he asked, the smile almost reached his eyes. To the untrained eye, it would even appear genuine. No doubt perfected after years and years of practice.

"Are you Otto van Klaver?" the Naruto clone asked, raising a kunai and pointing it at Klaver. He made a point of staring for a prolonged period at the cane leaning against the wagon's desk, before snapping his eyes back to Klaver.

" _I know that's your weapon and don't try anything_..." was the very clear message.

Now, Otto van Klaver knew never to underestimate children in the wilds. Any one of them could be a trained warrior or fighter, whether by choice or necessity. The children of the wilds were often more dangerous than the adults, simply because they raised in that environment and formed a natural affinity coming from being raised that way, and a dependency on their way of life. The only thing they ever knew...

This boy clearly knew how to fight. He was subtly threatening the ringmaster. Angry, confrontational, and having nothing to do with any of Klaver's attempts to fight back.

"Yes, that's me..." the old man said politely, tipping his top hat as a gesture of good will.

Naruto took a step forward, just barely enough as an attempt to intimidate the ringmaster further.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"What do you mean, son? We are the Clover Troupe, the greatest entertainers this world over. We merely travel from village to village pleasing our visitors with whatever displ-"

"Cut the bullshit! We know it's your group that's attacking Catalhoyuk, and we know it's your group that's responsible for all the faunus abductions going on in the area! I've already seen the way you treat them..." the Naruto clone growled the last sentence in a low, dangerous tone.

It was at that point Otto van Klaver made his first critical error. He assumed that Naruto would share in the outdated racist attitudes that were so common the world over.

"I feel there is something you should know about that village, young man. We of the Clover Troupe provide our employees with the most wonderful benefits. We give them decent wages, sick and vacation days, even insurance and medical benefits for those who live within the kingdoms. It sure as hell beats living out here eating grubs or whatever it is you people do to get by day-to-day..."

The Naruto clone exhaled.

"And of the faunus?" he asked angrily.

"What of them? That was what I was referring to when I said there is something you should know about that village. No one ever punished a company for treating animals like animals, and thus we will not be either. It is Catalhoyuk who is truly hampering them, for making them believe they are more than they really are by treating them as humans... Now, the folks over at Catalhoyuk tend to think they know what's "good" for them, but a little hard work never hurt anyone, and I'll be damned if I let my employees be run astray by that tiny village. I mean, look at the way they're living!"

 _Crack!_

The Naruto clone clenched his fist so hard and slammed it into the wooden door frame, which splintered everywhere. His eyes bled a feral red.

"You rotten bastard! They're not your "employees"! They're your slaves!" he roared, his nails lengthening into claws and his whiskers deepening into thick black marks. His hair became wilder while turning into a slightly darker shade of blonde. His face twisted into a sneer as a vortex of the Kyuubi's chakra swirled around him, stifling the air for Otto van Klaver.

"W-What is this?" the old ringmaster stuttered as he belayed his true emotion, feeling control slip from his grasp at this boy he felt he could no longer handle. His brain was crying at him with the flight response, instinctively trying to put distance between himself and the threat, but he found his back was already hitting the wooden wall. His face twisted into an expression of fear as his teeth chattered uncontrollably. His heart nearly pounded out of his chest. He tried to move his hands but found his fingers were numb and shaking.

The wood of the wagon splintered and began to collapse on itself, but the chakra was the Naruto clone's Zero-Tailed Form was too much for him to focus on his collapsing home. Tendrils of chakra twisted around, and in the dancing shadows Klaver thought he could see the grotesque image of a fox-like creature, more despicable than any Grimm in the world.

"W-What are you?" he asked, as Naruto stared him down and growled, baring his fangs. He slowly took a step forward, practically savoring the moment and his anger.

At that moment, a ringtone went off. If the Naruto clone's rage had been berserk, Klaver would be dead by now. But this was the Kyuubi's colder rage, one that didn't burn quite as hot but no less intensely.

And so, the Naruto clone observed. He watched van Klaver fumble around like a fool in his fear, his hand finding his way into his pocket and fishing out his scroll. Naruto watched in curiosity, mesmerized by the technology that they didn't have in his world.

"Y-Yes. Yes, hello!" van Klaver sounded both nervous and excited, like he was hoping for something that would save him while simultaneously pivoting his head and Naruto with a wary eye. Now that his polite front was spoiled in front of this boy, he would have to try a different tactic. And as he listened to what his manager was telling over him the scroll, he started to regain confidence even in front of this monstrosity.

"I-I'm sorry, Miss Tremaine Fall! I'll have to call you back another time. I'm in a bit of a bind right now!" he stammered, as he clicked the scroll off as a shadow fell over him.

Naruto punched a hole right next to where Klaver's head would've been, mere inches away as the ringmaster yelped. His scroll fell from his hands and clattered next to the ground uselessly.

"W-What do you want from me? Money? Fame? It's all yours! I can give it to you, as long as you spare me!" he sniveled, cowering in the corner, his foot situated right next to his scepter.

Slowly, the confidence began to return to his voice.

"I'll even free those filthy faunus you seem to care about so much... and call the attack off Catalhoyuk..."

Naruto's eyes panned up.

"What?"

"You heard me. Spare my life, and I will free every one of those faunus and leave the village of Catalhoyuk alone!" Whether it was true or not, van Klaver suddenly felt like he was once again in control of the conversation, because of his bargaining chips.

Naruto breathed out, but his eyes still bled red. Otto van Klaver reached over to his scepter, but Naruto was too numb to stop him. The old ringmaster wasn't done though.

"On another condition, though. There is something else I want..." he trailed off.

"What?" Naruto growled.

"You..." he pointed, "I want you. You are the biggest freak I have ever seen in my entire life. My heart hasn't beat this fast in decades. The exhilaration, the terror... they were the realest things I have felt in years, even in this wasteland of Grimm I have never felt such raw malice. I... need you," his voice shone with green and his face twisted into a crooked smile.

"Now that I think about, you kinda look like a faunus, but people would fork over the lien to see some blonde kid turn into a monster before their very eyes. It would be the greatest show in the world!"

Naruto's eye twitched, more and more of the Kyuubi's chakra pouring out of his pores as in his Zero-Tailed state his mind progressed from cold fury to an outright hot one.

"You think I'll be a part of your stupid little sideshow?" the Naruto clone roared, chakra undulating around in tendrils that whipped the air and the wood around them.

Klaver's smile faded as quick as it came. The fear was back when the demon chakra was ignited again. Negotiations broken down, he flipped open a panel on the gold of his scepter, just as Naruto began preparing to rush him.

He pushed the red button down, black dust immediately swirling around him as Naruto halted in his tracks and sneered as the vortex surrounded the man.

"I will get you, boy!" he snarled, "I will own you! I have connections!" he said, as he disappeared into a cloud of black dust that teleported him away from the scene.

Naruto stood there dumbfounded, the red slowly fading from his eyes. Just moments before, he had been seconds away from killing the leader of this whole nasty operation, but in the last moment the old man had a trick up his sleeve to escape.

When the clone's eyes faded back to blue, a feeling of regret washed over him. Under the influence of Kyuubi, his selfishness and anger had reigned supreme. He threw away a chance to save those faunus and the village.

He punched the ground.

"Stupid!"

He twirled around like a top, kicking open the door and rushing back into the fairgrounds.

"I can still at least free those faunus myself, and then get back to the village to save everyone! These guys are missing their leader now; what's going to happen?"

He halted in his tracks one last time, his mind whirling. At the moment, those faunus were probably safest in their cages. Freeing them now would just be exposing them to a battlefield full of Grimm.

The clone furrowed his brow; putting his hands into a seal ready to dispel himself. He would get this information back to the original, who would know to free the faunus after the area is safe and the Troupe have been defeated.

* * *

Naruto was in the middle of the battle against the Grimm when a flood of information assaulted his senses. He paused and stood rigid, as he cut through another Beowolf he realized that this flood was different than the others, and far more serious.

He had known for a while that the clones he had left on the other side of the village were being dispelled. He was so swamped with keeping the Grimm at bay he barely had enough time to create more, and creating them in a precise location took time and effort since he wasn't exactly used to it yet. It was the juggling of two different tasks at the same time, with both of them requiring all his mental focus since the drop in the warriors' numbers was apparent.

A flood of information came back to him at one point, and he froze at what it entailed.

This information, he couldn't help but pause and think. The clone he had sent into the encampment had made it through, and had apparently contacted the ringmaster. It was like the sudden feeling that he had been there, and a pit was gnawing in his stomach when he realized what had happened, and the terms in which Klaver escaped.

"Guys! Flidais!" the deer woman paused, "Arteshir!" so did the big man, "Klaver is gone! My clone confronted him and he managed to escape!"

"What?" Flidais roared. "I thought you said you were going to take care of that!" she said, going up to him, grabbing fistfuls of his jumpsuit and shaking him violently.

"Enough, Flidais!" Arteshir barked, "We don't have time for that... Klaver had left, but we're still fighting. They're like a chicken with its head cut off, but one that refuses to die. We have to force the leftovers out of the village!"

Naruto looked at Arteshir, then back to the village itself. He cracked his knuckles and grinned.

"You guys handle the front. I'll be back in a sec after I take care of those idiots out back!" he said, deciding to pay them another personal visit. When he got there, the line of clones was still intact in some manner. No one had broken through into the village yet, and Neptune lay defeated on the ground in front of the other circus workers.

"Alright, here's the deal!" Naruto started, standing in front of all his clones and staring down the bald "leader" of the circus fighting squad. "Your boss ran away like a coward and you guys can't even get through my clones!"

That seemed to stay their weapons and lower morale, but only slightly before the disbelief set in.

"Your meal ticket is gone! You can keep trying to fight, but me and my clones will make sure you ain't setting foot in this village!" Some of the other clones snickered and cracked their knuckles.

"Heh! Like we would let a couple hundred blonde brats intimidate us! Get 'em, boys!"

 _Screech!_

The roar of the Nevermore was... close. A thick shadow fell over the two belligerent groups near the rear cliffs of the village. A gust of wind almost knocked a few of the lighter men off balance as the Nevermore pounced, talons forward and goring a few unfortunate circus workers as it swooped by.

"A Nevermore?!" Neptune shouted, "Klaver doesn't have one of those!"

The sudden swoop had scattered and disoriented some of the circus workers. Naruto had flopped forward to avoid the thing, landing in front of the line of clones as the real Naruto rushed out forward himself.

"The roars are getting louder! Are we even sure Klaver has this many Grimm?" one of the workers shouted, straining his head to take a look at the battlefield on the other side.

"Grimm are attracted to negativity. Some were sure to show up on top of the ones we released!"

"Still, this seems excessive! Look!"

Two more Nevermore were now circling the village, getting into a pattern with the one that had bore down on the group as they circled the entire village. More screams broke out as the defenseless villages pointed and murmured at the sky, noticing the new problems they had to deal with on top of the existing set.

Naruto's eyes widened, dispelling all of his clones as he swallowed profusely. A few weapons clattered to the ground from some of the circus workers numb grasp, fear emblazoned on their faces.

The earth began to rumble, a Goliath emerging from the treetops.

"What is going on?! This is too many Grimm!" the bald leader roared.

Naruto locked eyes with Neptune.

"Well, we can either work together and at least try to fight them off, you can run away, or we can all die together..." Naruto remarked, "Your leader is gone. There's no reason for us to fight now, and I think the village would be more thankful if you just made yourselves scarce..."

The bald leader seemed poised to respond with a resounding negative, but the looks on all of their faces gave him pause. He turned his back, but when he did the footsteps signaling a mass exodus indicated that his team chose a different path than he did.

"Hey! You idiots! Where do you think you're going?" he asked, as nearly every circus worker began simultaneously running along the edge of the cliffs in a direction completely away from the fracas.

"Shit..." he cursed, beginning to jog in place, "You brat! I won't forget this!" he yelled, making his own hasty retreat after his men. Naruto watched them go and tightened his headband, before noticing that only Neptune remained standing there.

"You're not going to go with them?" he asked.

"We're not friends. I don't even like them." he said, "I think I'd much rather stay here and defend this place. I only did it because I was employed by the Clover Troupe, but... I think I need to help clean up our mess."

The roars of the Grimm were practically deafening, the Nevermore circling overhead like vultures as the mountains of Grimm began to enclose on the small little village in the wilds.

* * *

And we're done here. The introductory arc is nearly finished, and we're about to enter the new one.

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	7. Mammalian Explosion

Naruto joined the Clover Troupe semi-willingly people. It wasn't just about hostages, though in that scenario he probably could've won the battle, but the hostages were already taken. There's more than one reason why he joined up with him, to end the battle with the troupe now would be shortsighted and completely ruin my segue into the next arc.

* * *

Chapter 7: Mammalian Explosion

Gaara left Cerro Gordo the night he fought Qrow, thanking the kind innkeeper and bidding her adieu after the whole mess had been cleaned up. He turned down an invitation for a room, informing her once again that he did not need to sleep and was comfortable wandering the wild in the dead of night. In fact, the sooner he could get started on his journey the better.

After seeing his display, she hardly questioned him.

When Gaara left Cerro Gordo, he traveled north, far away from the border desert between Vacuo and Vale and north through the eastern part of the continent Sanas.

He was technically between the kingdoms right now, though Cerro Gordo and the surrounding towns considered themselves closer to Vale culture than Vacuo culture. And when decisions were made on the region they were underneath Vale legal jurisdiction.

He would walk for a full day, and then take a few hours rest by finding a suitable spot and take in the scenery of this new world by taking in the landscape. When he was sufficiently rested, he would move on without a word.

The terrain really wasn't any different than the biomes of the Elemental Countries. Deserts, forests, mountains, etc, to go along with similar wildlife. The only difference seemed to be the presence of Grimm. Like several places back on his continent, some of it was quite stunning.

The desert at the continent's midsection soon gave way to a mountainous badland region the further he went north, which took about five days for him to cross even as his enhanced pace. He passed scattered villages along the way, though he disregarded staying at any inns. While out in the wild, he would encounter numerous monsters that this world knew as Grimm.

The strangest sight Gaara must've seen thus far would've been the metal giant that tore through the sky like a bird, passing overhead and heading in the direction that he was. Perhaps those were the "airships" that the innkeeper in Cerro Gordo mentioned? If that was the case, his culture was no wear near advanced enough technologically to build a machine like that.

One of the few things the Ichibi Jinchuuriki had requested from a nearby village for his trip was a set of maps. When he saw the map, it did little to alleviate his concerns that he was in a society that was not connected to his own by space or time. If this was the known world, then a landmass resembling his own was not present. It was completely different.

In a map of the continent, the capital of Vale was in the northwest part of the northeastern region of Sanas, protected on one side by ocean and on another by steep mountains. Crossing those mountains would lead him into the kingdom proper, and looking at a more detailed map of the region he was passing through told of a mountain pass near his location.

The third and highest mountain in the range that cut off Vale from the rest of the world, Mt. Plata. Near the base of the mountain lay the only town for miles, but it was booming because Mt. Plata was the biggest source of Dust in the eastern half of Sanas, according to one of the locals at the most recent town he passed.

And the mining town at the base of the mountain was sure to exploit the teeming natural resources. The little dot on the map was labelled Potosi, and he had heard of this town at a local bar. The substance called "Dust" was a sort of all-purpose resource that could be used for everyday purposes or be weaponized. It is what the people in this world used to fight, their weapons usually incorporating it in some way. It was also Remnant's primary source of fuel and power; pretty much everything ran on dust.

When Gaara entered the town, he didn't find it as bustling as he thought a booming mining enterprise would be. Sure, there were a few people around and the basic utilities and necessities seemed to be in proper order, but it was just... fairly lifeless.

He passed a few houses and shops and stopped to observe the tracks that ran through the village and into the mine beneath the mountain itself. Rows and rows of empty minecarts were lined up on what was clearly the beginning of the track, unused.

There was another track some distance away that led into another tunnel, probably in an interconnecting web of them that circled back on each other. Above each tunnel entrance was an identical banner. A black background with a white snowflake logo printed on the middle.

Somewhere behind him, an old wooden door creaked as it opened, and Gaara heard the rhythmic tapping of a cane against the ground as someone slowly approached him.

"May I help you?" an old voice asked.

Gaara's eyes panned backward, before he mechanically turned around, raising an eyebrow when he saw the person that came into view. It was an aging man with long grey hair covered by a stetson, dressed in a brown vest over his white polo shirt. Oddly enough, he had what looked like scales on his neck from what was visible underneath his collar.

"Yes. I have heard that this place was a booming mining town that one could use to pass through the mountain. Where is everybody?" Gaara asked, and the reptile man sighed and lowered his hat over his eyes.

"As ya can see, we're quite desolate at the moment. The Schnee Dust Company heard about the recent attacks, and have sent all the workers here on leave until things can be sorted out with the White Fang..."

And there were more terms that Gaara was unaware of. It was to be expected considering his circumstances, but the learning curve of knowledge he would still have to adjust to.

The Schnee Dust Company? He had heard about the miracle substance by now; that was probably a big company who had stuck its fingers into the local area. And given the surroundings, dust was apparently mined in its rawest form.

The White Fang though? That was entirely a new term for Gaara.

"What is the White Fang?" Gaara asked.

The reptilian faunus looked at him oddly. Then he peered at the bags under Gaara's eyes and shook his head.

"What? You from the boonies out in Vacuo or something? Ain't a faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of the White Fang. The civil rights organization who fights for equal treatment for Faunus everywhere? They've been all over the news lately, though sadly for what maybe all the wrong reasons..."

Gaara stared at the slashed flags of the Schnee dust company, and the faunus took it on himself to continue.

"They've been splitting on the direction they want to go recently. Their old leader stepped down a new one with more radical policies has taken his place. While he returned to Menagerie, some members of the White Fang have tried to keep his policies, while the others follow new leadership. It's essentially a split into factions..."

"And the mine?" Gaara asked.

"An attack from the radical faction of the White Fang. They've been trying to get the Schnee's attention for years, and with this it looks like they'll finally get it."

Gaara hummed, and looked beyond the mountains.

"I need to get to the capital, and I came here because I've heard it was a way through the mountains. Are you a guide that can lead me through them?"

The old faunus shrugged.

"Sorry, kid, I just work here. We had mountain guides that could lead travelers through the pass, but there are only a few of us left here after the incident. Most either were recalled by the Schnee or ran off to join the White Fang after they were liberated."

"So, you can't help me..." It wasn't a question, but it wasn't an indictment either.

Again, the old faunus shrugged.

"I guess so. Gotta say, for a young faunus you don't seem to have much of an interest in the White Fang's cause. Young people are usually the prime recruits to the Faunus Rights Revolution..."

Gaara pondered for a moment. The old miner wasn't entirely right; this group did more or less pique his interest. He could relate to them but at the same time could not. Apparently they were discriminated against by a large scale organization; it wasn't entirely different than how he was treated. At the same time, Gaara was almost one of a kind. There were only eight other people like him.

Therefore, the thought of a race banding together in kinship for equal rights alongside humans was completely foreign to him. As far as he was concerned, there was no cause even able to be formed for the likes of him. With enough effort, perhaps the White Fang could achieve their cause.

"You could say I don't care, yes. Frankly, I find the entire idea rather ludicrous..." Gaara began pacing his way back and forth beside the mine cart tracks.

"Still, could you point me in the direction of where this White Fang is located? I would like to see them myself for my very own eyes..."

The old faunus looked at him strangely, but seemed to willingly oblige anyway. It was odd how neutral he seemed toward the whole ordeal; he didn't have any love or hate for either the SDC or the White Fang. Not if he was about to point Gaara in the direction of the organization that attacked the town he lived in.

"Go back out the gates to Potosi and down south about a mile. Turn east into the forest from there and keep going for a little while. The camp should be somewhere in those woods."

Gaara bowed to the man.

"I see. Thank you..."

"Just... listen to me for a moment, youngster. If you're going there about recruitment, just... really think about it before you join their ranks. This isn't like the White Fang of old. I know that we may not be treated right in the world run by humans, but the radical faction of the White Fang that has suddenly shown up, they're dangerous..."

Yet, Gaara waved it off because the concerns were unfounded.

"Do not worry. I am merely going to observe. I have no intentions of joining such a group. I also wish to see if there is anyone there who can serve as a guide through the mountains. You did say that there are plenty of new recruits from this town..."

The old faunus said nothing, only raising his hand to wave uneasily at the stoic boy. He seemed to be perturbed at the unflappable nature of Gaara, and how he brushed off the idea of a budding terrorist organization and an attack by said terrorist organization.

Clearly, there was more to Gaara than met the eye.

The Ichibi Jinchuuriki left the mining town of Potosi after taking in the ruined nature of the area. He was circling back on the route he had taken, back down the dirt road until he got to a fork with a sign posted there. North a mile was to the mining town of Potosi, some ways west was another village, but there was nothing about anything to the east. Just dense forest, it seems.

A perfect place for a terrorist organization to hide out. Sand lapped at his feet as it protected him from thorny bushes and loose branches while he made his way through the thick underbrush.

He pushed a leafy branch out of his face, and when he got a glimpse of red in a clearing not too far away, the ninja concealed himself by appearing on a branch midway through the tree, at a prime angle to look down upon the camp while not being spotted himself.

So, this was the so-called White Fang. The multitude of tents emblazoned with the same insignia seemed to give away that. The head of a big cat with three diagonal claw marks through it.

There were people wandering around. A few of them were congregating around a larger blue tent, and Gaara noticed a key difference. The ones that were congregating were all wearing street clothes, some of them even dressed like something a miner would wear.

Others were wandering around, and those were all in white and black uniforms while wearing masks to conceal their identities. Gaara raised an eyebrow, noting that he appeared to stumbled across a special scene with this organization.

That congregated group based on their dress were likely the miners who defected, as well as an assortment of other characters from elsewhere. They were likely being recruited.

A small whirlwind of sand surrounded Gaara, and within seconds he appeared on the ground in the same whirlwind. Even better, if this was an open recruitment, then he could just blend in with the crowd.

The old man from Potosi had mistook him for one of these faunus because of the rings around his eyes, and when he walked into the camp his theory that he could pass off as one of them was proven correct.

No one batted an eye as he joined the congregation, probably being billed as some kind of late straggler. There were a few others joining as well, and no one raised any suspicions as pre-existing members began to hand out white masks.

He made sure to lock eyes with the bespectacled member who handed him his mask. The White Fang grunt tilted his head to the side in confusion, as if unsure whether to label him as a faunus. Ears, claws, tails, or other appendages were the most common signs of faunus heritage. Eye markings, on the other hand...

No human had those, though, so in the end Gaara passed the unwritten entry test. Matching the rest of the new recruits, he attached it to his face and began mingling around.

One by one, he and the actual faunus were led into the large tent that was set up for the faction meeting. He pushed past the tent flap when it was his turn, and came into contact with a stage set in the back end of the room.

There was a lone faunus set upon the stage, holding a microphone while he seemingly prepared to make a speech. Rather oddly, the one who stood before them was a gangly teen, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old.

His face was concealed by the same mask that Gaara now wore, and his faunus feature was almost completely hidden by the shock of red hair that he had going on. He carried himself with an aggressive yet calm demeanor, watching the crowd file in with a keen eye underneath that mask.

Hushed whispers surrounded Gaara.

"I've heard about him... the prodigy Adam Taurus. He's risen up significantly through the ranks of the White Fang in the last couple years, being a key proponent of militarization. Some say pretty soon that Sienna Khan is going to put him in charge of the Vale branch. He's already a lieutenant..."

Adam cleared his throat, and the hushed whispers slowly reduced to a silence.

"Thank you all for coming. As the first faction meeting in the New White Fang, I'd like to say that I would like you to disregard anything you might hear from the old leadership. The White Fang has long since been an organization that has resolved to improve human-faunus relationships, to be equals out of mutual respect. And yet, look at how our efforts were repaid! The Schnee have lowered wages for faunus workers yet again, and they're not the only ones! Conditions for our brothers and sisters are getting worse, and why should that be? The humans like to think they're taking steps towards equality, but give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Why should your parents, your children, your siblings be dirty and hungry while some spoiled Schnee heiress lives off the fruits of their labor?"

Adam paused in his reverie, satisfied when the crowd was standing rigidly, their jaws stoney.

"Our protest is not cutting it anymore. We try to be kind and they spit in our faces. That is why the White Fang has decided to go in another direction! With your help, we can make a difference. One way or another. We must fight in order to make a difference, so if you believe in the most righteous cause, you will join ranks with the White Fang! Join the fight for equality!"

Much of the crowd raised their hands and cheered, but Gaara held back and just watched silently. It was very aggrandizing, the type of speech necessary to convert people over to their cause.

Adam began talking again, but Gaara tuned out the rest of the speech. Even with him listening, Gaara couldn't help but scoff. What a farce this was, though he wasn't expecting anything different.

He looked up at the stage when there was a lull in the conversation, and noticed for the first time that Adam wasn't alone up there anymore. A young preteen girl with black hair was standing off to the side, watching Adam was he roused the crowd.

Unlike everyone else there, her eyes were uncertain. It was like she believed in their cause, or _wanted_ to believe in the cause he had heard, but something was holding her back fully.

Curious about the girl, Gaara tuned out instructions that were meant to be given to the new recruits. The girl finally noticed the stare on her, and locked her own unmasked eyes with his.

She flinched and turned away, as the crowd shuffled forward.

"Hey, move it!" someone shouted as they bumped into him, his sand not registering it as enough of a threat to spring into action. He didn't acknowledge back, and began to step forward towards the girl, who disappeared behind the curtain when she noticed him walking directly toward her.

"San no Mai..." he mumbled under his breath and shut one of his eyes. Behind the curtain, the eye of sand materialized and caught a flash of movement as the raven-haired girl escaped through the back flap of the tent. Taking a slight detour and ignoring a few protests as he did so, Gaara exited the tent himself with the purpose of cutting off the girl.

After circling around, he found her sitting on crate of supplies placed directly outside the tent, her hands balling up the fabric of her pants as she stared down at her lap.

The cat ears on her head wiggled as he approached, and she turned to meet him with a golden gaze. Gaara discarded the mask, showing her his own raccoon eyes that let him blend in as a faunus.

"Excuse me, may I speak to you for a moment?" Gaara asked.

The girl seemed to withdraw into herself even further, breaking the gaze and staring elsewhere.

"Who are you? Why aren't you with the rest of the new recruits?" she asked. She eyed the gourd strapped to his back, and Gaara could say it wasn't the first time he had gotten strange looks today about that.

"I was less than impressed with that little speech your so-called prodigy gave. From the looks of things, you appeared the same way when you were standing up there."

That would seem to get the girl's hackles raised.

"What would you know about-"

"Only that your organization has become more extreme as of late and recently attacked a mining village under the control of some company called the SDC. I heard the same speech as everyone else, and fail to understand how you all can succumb to such garbage. Can you not think for yourselves?"

She recoiled as if slapped.

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. We're fighting here to make a difference, to take a stand against ruthless human rule and the rights we deserve!"

"How asinine. You hardly seemed so confident in that yourself while you were standing on that stage. I would actually consider you an improvement since you at least seemed questioning of the change in leadership..."

"Blake! Blake, where are you?"

The girl's ears twitched and swiveled at the voice coming from inside the tent. It was clearly Adam's.

"People did question it, and they left along with the previous leadership. Some went back to Menagerie, but no matter where they went, Adam just said that their dedication to the cause wasn't strong enough." she whispered, even as she tensed up as footsteps slowly grew louder around her and the tent flap opened.

"There you are, Blake. I need you to..." Adam cut himself off when he noticed Gaara for the first time. Now Adam was many things, his friends called him one hell of a fighter and a charismatic leader.

His enemies called him a possessive fuckwit.

And being a possessive fuckwit meant that the lanky teen drew Wilt and Blush as soon as he saw Gaara anywhere near Blake.

"Who the hell are you? Why is a new recruit out here?"

Gaara crossed his arms.

"There is no need to be alarmed. I was merely out here discussing how much of a farce your organization is..." Gaara stated bluntly, staring disdainfully back at the White Fang lieutenant. Blake also got to her feet and stood off to the side uncomfortably.

"A new recruit who was unreceptive to the cause? Or a traitor to the organization who is stuck in the old ways?" Adam asked rhetorically, hand fiddling with Wilt, "Judging from the way you're dressed, probably the former. I'm surprised every time I see a faunus who has cozied up to the humans..." he snarled.

"I am merely a traveler who was passing through Potosi when I saw the White Fang's handiwork. Being a stranger to these lands, I was curious as to what could have happened. I was pointed in this direction if I was curious enough to see the organization for myself first-hand. But now I see that this sham is hardly worth my time. I'm leaving..." Gaara said, dusting his pants off and turning around without a care in the world, exposing his back for Adam.

"Why, you insufferable little human lover..." Adam snarled, weapons drawn as he leapt forward toward the retreating Jinchuuriki.

* * *

Naruto and Neptune leaped back over the village wall just before the first Nevermore swooped down on one of the buildings. Catalhöyuk had been in serious danger after just one Nevermore attack. With three of them, who knew if the village would stay standing.

People bunkered down in their homes, though who even knew if that made them safer against such a giant bird. Heads poked out from behind curtains as eyes trained to the skies, watching the bird Grimm with tight tension. The two boys paid no mind to the distress of the village at the moment, clearing through the village grounds and back on the other side, to which the flood of Grimm was steadily rising.

Like clockwork, all the remaining warriors alive had not abandoned the battlefield outside the front of the village. Flidais and Arteshir were among the mix still, and Naruto found the latter almost immediately, his blonde cornrows and hulking body standing out even among the creatures of Grimm.

"Naruto!" Arteshir cried, taking notice of him holding off a massive Ursae with his gauntlets, "What are you doing back here so soon? Weren't you going to hold off the Clover Troupe trying to sneak into the walls?"

"The rest of the Clover Troupe has abandoned their mission. But it looks to me like there's more Grimm than ever! We've got three Nevermore right up there!" he shouted, punching a Beowolf to dust as he and Neptune fell into line.

The Beowolf dissolved into dust just like the rest of its kind would when defeated, but there were plenty more when it came from.

"Yeah... there's no way we'll be able to hold them off much longer!" he said, punching back at the Ursae. Another Grimm stepped between them, but it was riddled with three arrows from Flidais, who was off to the side.

"Who's the kid?" Arteshir asked suspiciously, eying the circus garment. Neptune looked away, but Naruto was there to step in.

"He's from the circus; the others ran away, but he wants to stick around and fight off the Grimm." Naruto said, hoping that Flidais wasn't near enough to hear their conversation, though she was already eying Neptune even more suspiciously.

Arteshir grunted.

"Well, we need all the help we can get at the moment if we want to get through this. But, we're going to talk about this later..." he said, eyes flashing to Flidais who seemed to be too busy at the moment with her battle to notice Naruto's companion.

That topic seemingly brooked, the Ursae at that moment looked up and locked eyes with Naruto. Naruto flinched as the bear monster completely ignored the human closest to it and began rushing Naruto, along with several other Grimm in the vicinity.

Naruto flicked a kunai up to his grasp, cutting down a few Beowolves, before creating a single clone that in tandem tangled with the Ursae with him for a seconds before it too went down.

He was ready for the next wave, but when he looked up both Flidais and Arteshir were looking at him strangely. Flidais in particular had her eye twitched, as well as her hand as it flicked to her bow as she seemed to strongly consider shooting him.

"Y-You! The Grimm are attracted to _you_!" she roared accusingly, "No wonder they've been showing up in droves ever since you arrived! The Clover Troupe isn't even the biggest threat to our village anymore! We probably could've cleared them out by now if _you_ weren't attracting more and more Grimm to show up!"

The surrounding warriors looked at him incredulously, halting in their battles however unwise that may be in order to hear this new development. Truth be told, they had noticed the increase in Grimm ever since that strange kid had arrived.

"I knew we never should have allowed you into our midst. What even _are_ you? One individual human shouldn't stand out above the rest according to the Grimm."

Naruto felt eyes on him from all side. Piercing, haunting eyes. Accusatory eyes. Eyes that were too much of a reminder... Even in the cacophony of the battle among the roars of Grimm, all seemed to be silent.

"Why didn't you _tell_ us..." Arteshir said, suddenly feeling very concerned as the village chief.

Naruto looked around himself, seeing people all around him giving pointed stares before they had to turn back to whatever Grimm they were fighting. Naruto took a step back. Even Neptune was looking at him concerned, though he seemed less suspicious than the rest of them and stood by him anyway.

For everyone else, it was like all of a sudden there was an emotion disconnect between Naruto and the rest that only Flidais had seemed to share up to that point.

"I... I didn't know. This is all so new to me!" he defended, telling the truth.

Naruto knew so little about the Grimm; how could he have possibly known?

"Cut the crap!" Flidais roared, "How could you have not possibly noticed you're a magnet to Grimm. Wouldn't it have happened when everyone around you had their lives ruined! Would you not have noticed that the places you went to would fall to ruin? And you would bring this upon us?"

"Now, Flidais..." Arteshir said, though he seemed unsure if siding with Naruto would be the right thing to do as a leader of a community. Before Arteshir could get any sort of order back from their predicament, the reality of the battlefield came crashing down upon them one more when a shriek from one of the Nevermore shook the earth, making a few warriors lose balance as it took the room off one of the houses in the village.

It was Arteshir and Arslan's home.

"Chief! Isn't that your house? Isn't Arslan in there?" one of the warriors asked the lion man.

Naruto croaked.

"Arslan? Is she okay?" the boy screamed.

Arteshir's olive eyes became alight with panic.

"Shit!" he roared, rushing past and bowling over anything in his way as he hurried back to the village without a care in the world.

"Hey, Arteshir! Where are you going? You can't leave now! Without you, more Grimm will get within the walls." the same warrior called out, but Arteshir was already long gone.

Naruto steered himself to the side as the village chieftain passed him, not even focused on Naruto as he rushed to get back to his daughter, hitting Neptune in the process as the blue-haired boy skid into the dirt. He breathed out heavily and when the man was gone, he himself broke into a run before a fire arrow impacted where he would have been not a second later if he hadn't halted upon the snap of the bowstring.

"Don't move..." Flidais sneered, her pretty face twisted into a scowl of pure hatred. "I thought you as a displaced circus worker trying to get into our good graces, and for that I thought you earned my hatred. But I can see now... for whatever the reason you bring Grimm, it's clear you are a much greater threat. You cannot be allowed to live."

* * *

And we're done here. Revised chapter and quite a different change of events, though no less dramatic.

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	8. Bull and Tanuki

One of the main goals I'm trying to do here with this story is an experimentation with Naruto's character. Given his age, this ain't the child of prophecy from the later stages.

Obviously, the previous incarnation of these chapters didn't go well, but I'm not going to scrap the idea of Naruto being completely out of his element. He's still going to be affected greatly by being ripped away from his home, far more so than Gaara.

* * *

Chapter 8: Bull and Tanuki

Naruto glared at Flidais.

"You never liked me the moment I showed up. Just because you thought I was dressed like one of the circus workers."

Flidais said nothing, but she was fiddling with more arrows in her quiver. Naruto wanted to scream at her more, and at least try to reason with while that this wasn't the time to fight with the surrounding area under an onslaught by Grimm.

But Flidais was hardly a reasonable woman, and at that moment Naruto wanted to do nothing more than follow Arteshir and make sure Arslan was okay.

"Hey, Neptune was it? Can you go follow Arteshir, that big lion guy that just took off in the direction of the village. It seems she's not gonna let me leave..." he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

The blue-haired boy looked at Naruto, then at the deer woman with the bow, and finally at the village which was rapidly turning into shambles with the Nevermores circling around it. He cycled through the options a couple more times, before his eyes once again fell on Naruto.

"Uh, how about _I_ handle this one and _you_ go back to find him? You'd know what's he's looking for better than me, anyway!" Neptune offered. In terms of getting sucked into the mess, he would rather deal with one angry looking warrior than a flock of Nevermores any day. Even then, Naruto had looked like he was practically begging to go after Arteshir.

Indeed, Naruto didn't need to be told twice.

"Right! I'll just leave things to you here then! Be careful around her; she hates pretty much everything!" he said, taking off in the direction of the village.

"Not so damn fast!" Flidais shouted, firing an arrow at the receding Naruto. Neptune grimaced, too slow to react as the arrow impacted Naruto in the back.

The boy lurched forward and Flidais grinned savagely, before he disappeared in a puff of smoke and there was nothing left but a log. When the log clattered to the ground, Naruto was already further ahead from where he was when he switched places, already feet away from bounding over the posts that served as the closest thing the village had to a gate.

Neptune stepped in, blocking Flidais' view of Naruto.

Flidais sneered. It was hard to believe that she hadn't noticed Neptune up to that point, but her mind had been clearly in another place despite his circus attire.

"Ugh, another Clover?"

Neptune pulled out his weapon and shifted it into gun form, pressing the butt of his against his shoulder and fired a burst of electricity as his first strike back against the older woman.

Flidais didn't say anything, but her face was pressed into a deep scowl.

She pulled apart her bow, shifting it into the dual pistols that she had used to take down one too many Grimm. This one was loaded with one of her earth based arrows.

She launched it, and when she did it almost knocked the weapon clean out of Neptune's hands. He yelped and jolted it at the last minute, avoiding having any part of himself be hit with the arrow.

Neptune looked at Flidais' weapon, and then at his own. He had seen her weapon shift from a bow into twin pistols, but nothing else. She could fire dust bullets or dust arrows depending on what she found most useless.

He faked moving his weapon as if he was going to fire again, causing Flidais to respond by firing off another arrow, this one of fire. When he was positive the projectile missed him, Neptune moved in.

He broke out into a sprint, covering as much ground as he could while Flidais was dealing with the recoil between attacks. He hit an automatic mechanism on his weapon, shifting into guandao form as he charged.

Flidais realized what he was doing, but by that point he was already too close for comfort. He charged the guandao with electricity, prepared to stun Flidais into submission.

Flidais held out her composite bow, but as soon as Neptune swung down she pulled it apart into twin pistols and pivoted to the side. Neptune's hearty swing ended with nothing but air as he stumbled, and Flidais' right leg lashed out and kicked him square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

Neptune collapsed and lay prone on the ground, his weapon clattering from his grasp. Flidais twirled her pistol, charged with fire dust. Neptune flinched when he saw the muzzle pointing directly at him, and the deer woman above glaring hatefully at the former circus brat.

He had been taken out so easily, Neptune thought to himself. How pathetic, but he took some solace in the fact that he had delayed the crazy woman enough for Naruto to carry out his task.

...

He had expected Flidais to fire a few seconds ago by now, but as he looked up he noticed that something was staying her hand...

Meanwhile, Naruto arrived back in the center of Catalhoyuk just as another Nevermore swooped and obliterated another house, and another family. The second Nevermore was pecking its beak through a window, the glass hardly deterring it as it scouted for humans inside.

But the third and final... was going after the village chieftain's house near the west end of the village. The building stood out amongst the rest of them, being a two story and in its own little plot of land in farther proximity from the neighboring houses.

Arteshir stood near the porch of his own house as a Nevermore circled it, yelling profanities as he fired shell after shell from the gun in his gauntlets. But a distance fighter Arteshir was not, despite the ranged capability of his weapon.

Arslan was nowhere to be seen, and as Naruto rounded the corner off the dirt path that led to the house, he feared for the worst.

When he got there, Arteshir was too distracted to notice him at first, as he was busy drawing the Nevermore's attention to himself. He had pulled the attention of the monster bird away from the house, but it would not follow him away.

He saw a mop of dirty blonde hair peek into view from the second floor window, the familiar hairstyle giving away that Arslan remained unharmed. For now at least, but Naruto felt a wave of relief wash over him.

"Come and get some, ya dirty feathered bastard!"

Arteshir turned on his tail and ran away from the house, stopping every few feet to fire off more shells at the Nevermore in an attempt to lure the Grimm away from Arslan.

The Nevermore was not having it. In fact, once Naruto had arrived it had stopped paying attention to Arteshir altogether despite the constant firing. It's beady, soulless eyes were not trained solely on him as he stood in the awning of the house.

The Nevermore went in for a dive straight at Naruto, who rolled off the porch and out of the way to avoid the wing. But the other wing clipped the patio and tore it clean off, ripping a hole in the house and threatening to send the entire thing collapsing down.

He heard a girl's scream come from inside.

"Arslan!"

Arteshir immediately turned back and jolted into the house, pushing him aside without any regard for Naruto's presence. Or maybe he was purposefully ignoring, considering how wishy washy he was over Naruto considering the latest revelation.

The village chief rushed into the house and up the stairs immediately, passing his bedroom and barging through the door to Arslan's room where she had decided to hole up.

The door nearly clattered off its hinges, and Arslan shrieked and jumped up from her place in the corner, before a sigh of relief quelled her fears.

"Father!" she smiled, "You're okay!"

Arteshir grunted.

"Not for long. Things are bad, Arslan! With that Naruto being some kind of magnet for Grimm, our village isn't going to be standing for much longer. There's three Nevermores out there, for God's sake! It's not safe here anymore, so I'm taking you and as many villagers as we can find, and we're gettin' out of here!"

Arslan yelped as her father hoisted her up onto his shoulders, but she settled down before long before looking down at him with confusion.

"Naruto? What are you talking about?" she asked.

Arteshir sighed, and stared out the window to see Naruto standing near the porch with his attention focused on the Nevermore. He had of course noticed that Naruto followed him back.

"We've had an influx of Grimm invasion since that boy has arrived. It goes against every bone in my body to leave a child out there in the wild to fend for himself, but I can't help but think that bringing him into our custody was a mistake. Out on the battlefield, I saw a Beowolf go out of its way to completely ignore me and go for him. He attracts Grimm like a Beacon, Arslan."

Arslan gave her father a hurt look.

"I _like_ Naruto, father..." was all she had to say, "He's really nice..."

She would even say that in his short time there, they were beginning to become friends.

Arteshir hushed her.

"I _know._ I'm not trying to say that Naruto is some horrible bogeyman. He seems to be an even bigger victim of his... condition. But, I need you to stay away from him. He's not safe..."

Naruto rubbed his shoulder where Arteshir had brushed up against it in his haste to get into the house and up the stairs. Naruto put his hands into his favorite seal.

Like the previous time he had fought a Nevermore, he found that the wings were an easy target to go after. A stack of clones appeared on each of them, about six rows in total of one clone standing on anothers' shoulders as it began to flap its wings harder from the increased weight.

Each stack of clones had their palms facing towards one another, as they started to rotate their chakra.

Six identical Rasengans formed and lit up the Nevermore in a blue-white glow. With the dozen clones all in perfect sync with what their creator wanted them to do, they all shoved their orbs of chakra into the Grimm's flesh. The two pairs closest to the body attacked the sensitive scapula of the wing.

It was like a buzzsaw was taken to the bird. The Rasengan shredded the wings of the bird, the aforementioned attack to the scapula severing the wings before the Nevermore flopped and fell out of the air, already turning to dust as it died.

That was one Nevermore down, and Naruto pumped his fist triumphantly in victory, before his eyes widened in horror when the sounds of villagers screaming and crashing continued.

The Beowolves and Ursae had breached the village, and that could only that the warriors were down to dangerously thin numbers and would probably soon die off.

Very few structures were now still standing in the village. Those that hadn't been crushed in the rubble were forced out into the streets as they noticed their houses gave way.

But in doing so, they had become sitting ducks for the groundbound Grimm that had infested Catalhöyuk. He saw one woman, a young mother by the looks of it, get gored by claws trying to protect her young children. The deep slash marks spurted blood like a fountain as her face twisted in pain, her eyes alight with horror for a split-second before all life faded from them.

Easy pickings for the Grimm, but that was all they ever were as the more common Grimm began tearing into more and more villagers, dwindling their numbers by the second.

Naruto stood there stunned, the display of violence slowly overwhelming him. These people couldn't fight back; not even in the slightest. His heart nearly thumped out of his chest as the world seemed to go mute around him. The only thing he could hear clearly was his heavy breathing in his ears.

That's why he didn't notice the second Nevermore approach him where his back was facing, and didn't until it damaged more of Arteshir's house in an attempt to swoop down on him.

Naruto's hand shot out as he noticed the bird swooping just in time before it impaled him, grabbing the talon that threatened to gore him and trying to stop the bird's momentum.

He skid along the ground as the bird pushed him along, his sandals digging into the dirt as he grunted and struggled against the heavy weight. He glanced behind him; seeing he was on a one way path to the barbed wire that protected the village.

He shifted his right hand into grabbing the Nevermore's ankle He twisted and pulled, feeling something snap as he broke the talon. The Nevermore screeched, but it threw him off upon reflex, but straight into the barbed wire fence as it flew up to begin circling around again, it's broken leg hanging limp.

Who knew if it could even land now.

But Naruto still slammed into the fence, the barbs digging through his jumpsuit and drawing blood that slowly leaked through his clothes. Naruto grimaced, pulling himself out of his position with a painful pop, but the creaking of the house about to collapsed drew his attention away from his injury.

The poor structure's wood was creaking loudly, mere inches away from toppling and collapsing. Through a hole on the second floor that the Nevermore had made, Naruto gasped when he noticed two figures appear.

It was Arteshir, carrying Arslan on his back. The girl was trembling on her father's shoulders, eying the crippled Nevermore still circling around them with no small amount of fear.

Arteshir breathed a sign of relief as he prepared to jump from the second story with his daughter in tow. But the loud creaking turned into an outright snapping of wooden beams as the roof came down on both father and daughter.

Arslan shrieked, but Arteshir's reflexes were quicker. As before the roof came down completely and the house collapsed into rubble, Arteshir threw his daughter out through the opening like a cannonball.

She screamed some more, flopping out the window as she impacted the ground with a heavy thud and probably a few bruises. But more importantly, she was alive for now.

But the house came down not a moment after she was thrown to safety, with her father still inside. The floorboards of the second floor gave way, dust and wood falling upon Arteshir in an avalanche of rubble as it buried him and obscured him from view as Naruto and Arslan both gaped like fishes.

"Father!" Arslan shouted from her position on the ground, getting up slightly before the shock forced her to her knees again. Naruto stood there, before jolting into action and rushing towards the collapsed building.

But the second Nevermore was still out there.

Naruto put his hands into a seal, creating about a dozen clones that stood in a defensive circle around the petrified Arslan to protect her against Grimm attacks while the original began clearing rubble from the scene.

He moved a piece of wood, giving him a field of view into what would've once been the living room. And then Naruto saw him; the prone lump laying in the dirt and rubble with a piece of broken metal sticking out of his side.

"Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no!"

The heavy panting told him Arteshir was still alive, but when he rushed over his vitality seemed quite good for a man with a metal rod impaled through him.

Arteshir gave him an odd look, but he didn't object to his presence at the moment. Instead, he grunted and grimaced as he wiggled around, and with a squelch the wounded man pulled himself off the spike, blood pouring from his wound.

"Aura..." he commented, "Saves your life more often than not."

Arteshir hardly looked like he could move well, so Naruto rushed around and put Arteshir's arm around him for support, handling the larger man's weight well.

They began hobbling away from the scene with difficulty, but a shadow fell over them when they had scarcely moved mere feet. The Nevermore had landed, taking care not to tread on its bad leg as it blocked the path the two males were taking.

It had not gone after Arslan.

The Nevermore screeched and reared back, aiming its beak for Naruto. Naruto and Arteshir moved in tandem, but stumbled upon their lack of coordination and Arteshir's injury, and the Nevermore ended up picking up the lion man in its beak, wrenching him from Naruto's grasp.

"Father!" Naruto heard Arslan scream, as the Nevermore took back to the skies with a human in its jaws. He was too injured to resist, the wound in his side preventing him from ripping the beak off the Nevermore.

Naruto recovered from the stumble, pulling a kunai out of his pouch and tossing it the bird. It did nothing, but Naruto was ready to take down that Nevermore the same way he did the others.

 _Crunch!_

The moment he put his hands up into his favorite seal, before he could even do anything, the Nevermore's jaw clamped down upon Arteshir. There was a cry of pain from the village leader, then a quick jolt of the body before he went limp as a ragdoll.

Arslan gasped, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes before beginning to fall in twin rivers. Naruto himself gasped and halted in place, his mind moving a mile a minute after seeing what just transpired.

He almost let his anger consume, and allow his eyes and chakra to bleed over red like so many times in his life. But, something held him back. Arteshir didn't make him promise to do so, but Naruto's first priority at that moment now that her single parent was dead was to get Arslan to safety.

He turned around, seeing his swarm of clones still protecting Arslan. The Nevermore was of course still locked in on him. Arslan appeared to be in shock; her hand was frozen in place over her mouth while she trembled lightly.

Naruto nodded to one of his clones, who understood the gesture immediately and hoisted the girl onto his back. She didn't flinch or even resist; perhaps she didn't even notice.

The clone carrying Arslan began running, the others flanking them as they made their escape. The real Naruto took up the rear, keeping a close eye on the Nevermore as it looked for the right moment to swoop down.

He couldn't help but notice the state of Catalhoyuk, though. If there was any chance or remnant that it could've be saved before, it was gone. The Grimm had devastated the village in a matter of minutes.

The numbers had dwindled down to but a few; it was a massacre. Virtually no houses or other dwellings remained standing, like Arteshir's house they were turned into similar piles of rubble.

As the number of humans dwindled, so too did the numbers of Grimm as they stalked off elsewhere now that the negative emotions dwindled and there were few humans to kill. Even with Naruto serving as a kind of target for Grimm, he couldn't compare to an entire village of people.

But it was too little, too late. Catalhoyuk was a ghost town now, only the sound of a few warriors fighting outside the village. No one was in the streets, either killed by the Grimm or abandoning the village altogether to likely be killed by Grimm later.

The low sniffles coming from Arslan kept Naruto vigilant, and he could tell she was taking in all the sights of her now derelict home. Perhaps she had been looking out the window to see the process happen as well.

Bodies were strewn every which way, or all ages and sizes. Most were gored by Beowolf and Ursa claws, and Naruto's mind wandered to a place where he was imagining them getting killed in more gruesome ways that didn't leave a body.

He entered the destroyed remains of what was once the village square and hung a right along with his clones. The Grimm had plowed through any material protections set up around the village.

That wasn't to say that all the Grimm were gone, as Naruto's clones cut down straggling Beowolves and Ursae as they attempted to attack them. The sounds of battle were lessening, but there seemed to be a few surviving warriors also out of the village still fighting the straggling Grimm.

Arslan seemed to break out of her shock just slightly as the clearly the village "gates", for she fidgeted on the clone's back in order to take one last look at the destroyed village.

"Hey, it's Flidais! Oh, no!" one of the clones commented. Neptune was laying on the ground prone, but from the way he twitched he was still conscious. The deer woman was staring ahead though, not down at Neptune. She wasn't even looking to see if he was approaching.

Rather, after her completed fight with Neptune that she was apparently victorious in, she noticed the state that her home was in. It took all the wind out of her sails; she scarcely even noticed the group of Narutos approach.

The invasion of Grimm outside the village had ground almost entirely to a halt. The few that still lived were now nursing their wounds while trying to be as upbeat as they could.

Neptune roused from his state, coughing and pulling himself to his feet. He rubbed his sore, dehydrated through as he cracked an eye open to look at the other boy.

The downtrodden look on both Naruto and Arslan's look gave it away.

"Did you..." Neptune asked.

Naruto shook his head, and Neptune inhaled sharply.

"Didn't think so. The big guy isn't with you, and this village..." he looked forlornly at the once standing town, "She was about to kill me, but then she finally noticed what was happening to that place. I think the shock is setting in now that the battle's over; she hasn't moved since..."

"So... what do we do now?" Neptune continued. Catalhoyuk was gone, the Clover Troupe was gone, and the few survivors or non-deserters remaining had no idea what to do with themselves.

Arslan rustled, seeming to snap out of her shock slightly.

"N-Naruto? Can you put me down, please?" she asked, her voice muffled slightly because she spoke into the fabric of the clone's jumpsuit. The clone jolted when he felt her speak, but complied anyway as he slid the girl off his back before disappearing into smoke.

"Arslan! Are you ok?" the real Naruto asked. How could she be?

Arslan didn't answer him, opting to turn around to stare longingly at the ruins of what was once her home again. She lifted a hand and began to fiddle with her mane of blonde hair.

She felt numb, and for some reason she couldn't understand why. Her home was destroyed, her father was dead, and so were all the rest of the people she held dear.

She couldn't cry anymore. It was so heavy that crying couldn't even express how she felt. She just... didn't feel like doing anything anymore. What was the point?

Naruto once again asked her if she was okay, and she thought back to her father's words, and what he said about Naruto. He had a look of concern that seemed genuine, but the damage had been done regardless of intentions.

That day, Arslan became just a little more wary of him.

* * *

Gaara stared stoically at the teen before him, as did Blake who sat nervously on her perch on the crate. Glancing at him, there was very clearly a lot of raw strength behind the older boy, but it was uncontained and raw. He seemed brash and headstrong, a powerful opponent with deadly potential that probably needed a fair bit of maturity.

Gaara pursed his lips; he heard footsteps coming to their position behind the tent and apparently so did Adam.

The footsteps belonged to White Fang grunts who were rapidly encroaching on their location. Gaara swiveled his eyes to the side slightly to see them approach; all of them began pointing their guns at him when they realized he was not wearing a mask and was not in uniform.

"Freeze! Who are you and why are you here? If you're a new recruit, why aren't you getting fitted alongside the others? Why are you confronting Lieutenant Taurus in such a way?" one of them asked in a string of questions.

"Silence!" Adam cried, his teenage voice somehow carrying a more commanding cadence that it would seem, "Return to your posts immediately and continue fitting the new recruits! We have a rat in our midst, but I will take care of this one."

The group of White Fang soldiers looked at each other uncomfortably, but they didn't dare disobey a direct order from their superior. They had all likely seen what happened to those who were considered rats or traitors to the faunus race.

Still, without any individuality, the White Fang grunts saluted and disappeared back into the tent.

Gaara merely stood there and waited, but Adam got into his stance and put his hand on the hilt of Wilt, his chokuto. His other hand went on the sheath, Blush.

Slowly, he removed his right hand from Wilt and fired Blush, sending the blade forward out of its sheath like a bullet with a crack. His opening move, which Blake had seen numerous times. It was effective at catching opponents off guard and creating openings.

On top of her crate, Blake flinched and stared as the sounds of rushing sand assaulted her ears. Gaara's shield rose up to protect him, the end of Wilt putting a sizable crater in it but failing to even get close to breaking through.

Adam flinched too, but didn't break his stride as he flashed forward and grabbed his blade, following the initial attack with a strike that would've lopped a weapon arm off, and then a decapitating slash to finish, before sheathed the blade.

It would've worked too, if the sand didn't rise up to protect Gaara once again and nullify the attacks.

" _Iaijutsu, huh? He seems relatively focused on that sword technique, but the technology of this place allows him to fire his blade from his sheathe, adding to the effectiveness of the quick draw..."_

Adam's mouth was a thin line, which was the only way Gaara could tell what he was thinking underneath that White Fang mask. He seemed bothered by the sand and the way it moved, and how it had appeared to protect Gaara automatically without any sort of telegraph or prelude.

"What was that?" Blake cried, just as confused and awe-inspired by the display, "A weird semblance, perhaps?"

"Be quiet, Blake! Just sit over there and don't draw his attention!" Adam snapped, separating Wilt from Blush but this time not firing the sword from its sheath.

He pivoted forward, putting all his weight into his right hip as he swung Wilt in a wide sweep. All it did was displace a few more kernels of sand, failing to pierce through Gaara's barrier.

When the sweep was over, he twirled Blush and fired two quick rounds before spinning it on his palm and sheathing his blade. A few small holes were made in the barrier, but once again they failed to pierce all the way through.

Adam became a red and black blur as he didn't miss a beat and immediately drew Wilt again after sheathing it. He was quick, darting back and forth with a combination of iaijutsu and shots from Blush.

Gaara watched him intently between the splashes of sand that popped up to block everything that Adam threw at him. Gaara also noted that while he seemed fairly hotheaded at first glance, he kept himself under control and stoic while battling.

When he gave a grunt of frustration after failing to bypass the sand again, that mask slipped and exposed the mental weakness he may have had. There was a foul mood in the air, like Adam was radiating anger and hostility from his aura.

Blake could apparently feel it too; she looked equal parts worried about Adam failing to do any damage and the teen's state of mind itself. Adam fired another sweep of bullets from Blush, again to no avail.

He wasn't using any ice to try and weaken Gaara's sand barrier either, like Qrow did. Whatever the case, Gaara was aware and it seemed that Adam was becoming aware that he wasn't fast or strong enough to break Gaara's barrier.

Gaara hadn't even attacked yet. In fact, he seemed fully content to just stand there and let Adam tire himself out. He didn't exactly seem the type to have low stamina, but unless Adam had more tricks up his sleeve there was no way he was winning this battle.

"This is completely pointless..." Gaara said bluntly. "I came here to see what your organization was about, and wasn't impressed. I was merely to leave; violence is unnecessary..."

"And let you reveal our location to the humans, not likely. Any recruit that comes to our initiations give their lives for the cause; they are not allowed to leave so they may compromise us." Adam snarled. Gaara sighed, but he raised his hand. Adam tilted his head down, narrowing his eyes beneath his mask.

Yet he grunted when something small and hard impacted his temple. His vision swam for a moment, and he shook his head to reinvigorate himself and look at the object as it rolled onto the grass.

It was the cork that was on Gaara's gourd, proven by the fact that a steady stream of sand was now flowing out of open hole like it had a mind of its own.

"And things continue to get weirder..." Blake commented, but she shut her mouth when Adam leveled a fierce glare at her. He wouldn't remain focused on the girl for very long though, as the hot-headed teen broke out into a sprint toward Gaara, even with the tendrils of sand twisting around the desert boy's body.

His hand went for Wilt once again, but as soon as he did so, the bottom of his boot met sand instead of grass. For a brief moment, the White Fang lieutenant stumbled, body falling forward. Wilt shot out of blush again but hit the dirt uselessly beside them.

Twin streams of sand began snaking their way around Adam's ankles, preventing his fall but also locking him in place. Thicker twin streams wrapped around his torso like a jacket, covering Adam's body as he was entombed in sand.

Gaara couldn't see his eyes behind the mask, but the grit teeth of Adam Taurus told him all he needed to know. Gaara stuck his open palm out outward, fingers curling as if in a clench as the sand entombed Adam began to rise.

Blake was off her crate, standing still as a statue and looking at the sky with her mouth agape.

Gaara paused. As far as his old self was concerned, this was the part were he would squeeze his fist and splatter his opponent everywhere. But he wasn't his old self anymore. He wasn't on a mission and was acting independently. This was apparently a terrorist organization, but he was not swayed or had any interest in this world's politics, even if he did have a disdain for the White Fang's apparent new motives.

Gaara merely wished to leave. Nothing more, nothing less. So, while Adam was encased in the coffin, he thrust his palm forward and threw it through the flap in the tent.

Blake watched Adam zip by, and then came a loud crash followed by the splintering of wood. She stared back at Gaara while her ears swiveled to the sound of footsteps rushing and White Fang grunts shouting.

"Lieutenant Taurus!" someone shouted, though Blake paid it no mind. She approached Gaara, hand moving to her back and drawing her own weapon that she had gotten very recently, Gambol Shroud.

"W-Why are you doing this?"

Gaara stared at her.

"I could ask you the same thing..."

Saying nothing more, Gaara put his hands into a seal. Blake felt her eyes sting as little grains of sand cut against her retina, so she closed them while shielding her face with her forearm as Gaara conjured up a small sandstorm that he disappeared in.

The sand slowly dissipated, and Blake's vision returned to her as the boy who had been attacked by Adam merely left. In the back of her mind, she figured that he had gotten away, free to spill their location to the authorities.

But she was more focused on what Gaara said.

"I could ask you the same thing..." Blake repeated under her breath, as the cacophony going on in the tent assaulted her senses. It wouldn't have been the first time the little niggling seed of doubt was planted in her mind. That would have been when her father stepped down and the White Fang took a different direction, but the presence of the sand kid metaphorically poured more water on that seed.

Sighing to herself, Blake sheathed her weapon, turned around, and opened up the tent behind her.

It was a mess. There were a bunch of folding chairs that were brought for the new recruits strewn about in a line, and the clear wreckage of the stage told her where Adam had made his impact.

A White Fang recruit brushed by her, as well as a White Fang doctor.

"I told you, I'm fine!" Adam snapped as he rose out of the rubble and brushed himself down. Surrounding him was the sand that had entombed him, laying uselessly on the floor without its master there to command it.

Blake pushed her way through some White Fang grunts, stopping right before Adam. She didn't say anything to him, and she often didn't need to as his charge. But the body language he was giving off was scary.

Even as he ordered away faunus after faunus, he merely remained sitting on the floor of the ruined stage, sulking, until it was just the two of them in the area.

"What was that?" Blake finally broke the silence, though she wondered why she would open her mouth in such a tense situation. She at least thanked the heavens above that the new recruits were being fitted in another tent, as the entire initiation would have been ruined otherwise. Such a display would have surely hurt the image of the White Fang to the newbies.

"A traitor to our species..." Adam growled, in seething, burning hatred. Blake gulped; this entire affair was like a bad nightmare. The White Fang was... changing, and so was her friend and mentor, but... she had never seen Adam this angry at something that wasn't a Schnee.

When her father had inducted the bullish boy many years ago from the streets of Menagerie, she knew right away Adam's temperamental. There was anger long since pent up; even as a preteen, his mouth was almost always pursed in a frown.

Adam was hardline even during the Fang's peaceful days, but he was always ready to dedicate himself to the Fang. He was strict, but when he trained Blake, she always got the impression that despite being hardline, she always felt that he was in control.

She had also never seen a faunus come to the White Fang only to completely reject it.

"Remember, Blake. A faunus like that who holds our cause in such high disdain is only a traitor to our species. They are content with remaining in humanity's shadow, or worse yet, accept it as the natural order of things. That is why we must never falter, no matter what we must do."

Adam wiped some blood off his mouth.

"That kid just made enemies of the entire White Fang.

He turned to a grunt who was wandering up to them.

"You there! Relay to all squad leadersthat I'm giving the order to pack up and move. Our position has been compromised since I allowed that traitor to escape unscathed. Also, tell Olivine to meet me in my tent. I want her to make a poster and sketch of the traitor who just made the enemy of the entire White Fang..."

* * *

Gaara stood upon a platform of sand high up above the forest canopy, staring down at the multitude of tents that made up the White Fang encampment.

In his mind, Gaara wondered what he had expected. He supposed he had entered the camp to quell some questions about this foreign area. Potosí and the White Fang attacked had educated him on certain economic affairs of Vale, while confirming that racism, class differences and violence were not unknown here, to no surprise.

But most importantly, he wanted to see what side if any was right. He hadn't gone in expecting anything, but if he happened to be pleasantly surprised then perhaps the White Fang could've helped him.

True to form though, they were seemingly just like one would expect a terrorist organization or cult would be. From what he could tell, propagandist oration, conditioning, and indoctrination were commonplace.

If only he could've left without a scene.

He just had to talk to that cat-eared girl and give his opinion on the matter. Though, considering places that this didn't like having their locations compromised, Gaara doubted anyone who came to these meetings would be able to voluntarily leave anyway.

Gaara closed his eyes, some slight fuzziness overcoming his vision. While Gaara was insomniac, by this point he had gotten more or less used to the drawbacks and barely even noticed any sleep deprivation.

But when he began to descend even slightly even the nocturnal film between sleep and wakefulness was when the Shukaku preferred to speak with him. The fuzziness was a sort of sign. A sign that he was feeling right at the moment.

More importantly, it was the first time Shukaku may try contacting him since he arrived in this new place. Gaara had tried the other way around not long into his incursion on Remnant, but silence was all he was met with.

Gaara lowered himself to the ground on his sand, but when he finally touched down upon the ground he heard the familiarly obnoxious voice of the tanuki.

"' **Sup, kid**!"

* * *

And we're done here. That's all for the rewrites I've been doing. From here on out, it will be original content. Don't expect me to make a habit of doing this; I only did it because I realized Naruto behaving that way didn't actually make sense. Don't expect me to cater to your personal preferences. I'm not going to change anything based on whether or not you think the power levels of the two universes aren't accurate.

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	9. Misplaced

So, here we are. New, fresh material that isn't a reboot of previous chapters. I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

Chapter 9: Misplaced

Shukaku sounded... tired.

That in itself was a warning sign for the normally exuberant Bijuu. Gaara was normally the one who was tired, but the Bijuu itself seemed to have a limitless supply of energy which it used to torment him during the sleepless nights.

The Shukaku only ever contacted him when it wanted to, which unfortunately for Gaara was quite a bit. It was only during the times when Gaara began to feel fatigue, but whenever he did Shukaku was always sure to make his presence known.

" _Shukaku..._ " Gaara thought tersely as he responded, and Shukaku gave a chuckle that while quiet was still raucous enough for a being like Shukaku. It was just waking up to its own long slumber, after all.

" **I see you're looking well, kid**!" it said with mirth. Gaara wasn't stupid; he could guess that based on that mirth and that jab that Shukaku had some idea of what was going on.

" _What do you want?"_ he asked, not mincing words. Conversing with Shukaku was usually an exercise in misery. Their personalities really couldn't be any more different, and with the Bijuu torturing him with insomnia for his entire life, Gaara was even shorter with Shukaku than he was usually was with anyone else.

" **Ooh, temper, temper. Is that how you greet an old friend?** "

" _One, we're not friends. Two, you act like you didn't just torture me with your inane babble under a week ago..._ " Gaara shot back, but that only prompted a cackle from the one-tailed Bijuu, as if Gaara had just told him some ironic joke that only he was aware of.

" **C'mon. I just wanted to tell you what happened. You're probably curious to where you are, right?"** The Bijuu said cryptically, letting Gaara mull that over for a moment.

Gaara hummed, an indicator that he was at least listening. Truth be told, the thought had occurred to him that he should maybe ask Shukaku if he knew anything about his strange new whereabouts and his mysterious, unexplained appearance in this place. But conversation with Shukaku was usually a one-way street that he couldn't access upon a whim. Whenever he tried, he was usually met with silence.

" **You might want to up a chair, because you're going to wanna sit down when I'm down with this!** " Shukaku laughed, though Gaara just looked around, not bothering to comment that he was standing in the middle of the wilderness with the only nearby civilization being a hostile camp nearby.

" _Start talking... What is this place and why am I here?_ "

" **To be honest... I have no idea. This world is unfamiliar to me. I merely know what you've heard and learned since coming here, so you're out of luck on that one, but I can tell you how you came to be here...** "

Something sunk in the pit of Gaara's stomach. He knew he wouldn't like what he was about to be told, but how did Shukaku know what was happening in the first place? Unless...

" **Are you aware of the organization Akatsuki?** "

The name rang a bell to Gaara, but he couldn't place it entirely.

" **Long story short, the Akatsuki were after me and all like me. Rogue ninjas that wanted to capture the Jinchuuriki for their own purposes. That is, you, that blonde kid that knocked the hate out of you, and all the others from the various hidden villages. There's a whole long conspiracy of why they do what they do and their leadership has history with me and all the other Bijuu involving our origins that you ninja only regard as legend. I won't get into detail about that long story, but they were a threat to us, to the point where we wanted to make sure they wouldn't succeed..."** Shukaku trailed off.

" **So, long ago we all decided a failsafe in case something like this ever happened. A way to protect our Jinchuuriki and ourselves from the Akatsuki leadership or anyone they decide to... call upon. We encased your bodies in a special jutsu that no one could dispel or break, put you to sleep, and then put ourselves to sleep to all lie dormant together. Your deduction indicates that this is a whole new world completely separate from our own, or an undiscovered land mass far away from the Elemental Countries. It is neither. We are in the future..."**

Gaara was silent, as he became numb and lost all perception of the world around him.

Even Shukaku could feel the cold anger Gaara directed his way. The Ichibi Jinchuuriki had been prepared to keep his hopes and expectations down in the meantime while he tried to return home, but the latest revelations took any and all wind out of his sails when it came to returning back. Physical travel was no concern, and if he crossed the borders between dimensions there might've been a way to get back considering he had arrived in the first place. But the mere passing of time left little hope.

" _You mean to tell me... that because of your asinine plan to protect your own skin, you pulled me away from my family mere months after I had started to understand what love meant..._ " he spat in his mind.

Shukaku was awkwardly silent. Gaara shouldn't have been so upset or surprised Shukaku was behind all this; his Bijuu had ruined his life in more ways than one before. What was adding one more selfish screw-up to the equation?

Gaara stared ahead across the ledge he was standing on, his body rigid. Slowly, he reached both hands up to his face and began to rub his temples, trying to still his storming mind.

" _How long were we asleep anyway? I doubt it was anything short. This place looks nothing like the Elemental Countries; there are no remnants of our geography or culture anywhere..._ "

" **I don't know...** "

For the first time Gaara had ever heard, Shukaku didn't sound confident or in charge. In fact, he seemed slightly cowed by Gaara's word, unusual for the beast that Gaara had come to regard to be nothing more than a selfish prick over the years.

It wouldn't have been the first time Gaara had expressed his hatred and anger at Shukaku. Shukaku kept him awake and often mocked him, and Gaara would always return it with anger in spades. The relationship they had between Bijuu and Jinchuuriki was strained at best, not at all like the one some of the others who had managed to tame their Bijuu had.

But, the hatred Gaara was directing back at Shukaku never seemed this... poignant. It was coming from a different place than normal, being more righteous anger rather than a display of hatred caused by the grudge he had with his Bijuu.

Gaara sat down on the forest floor, forcing his anger to quell into a lower simmer. He ran a hand through his red hair, touching the tattoo he had given himself all those years ago.

 _"Temari... Kankuro..._ "

If he was in the distant future, they were long dead. Had they lived fulfilling lives? It wasn't hard to figure out that they would've never figured out the circumstances regarding his dormancy. He had woken up deep underground, but that was obviously because of the passing of time. Had they kept him on display in Suna, working tirelessly to try and dispel the jutsu to no avail? Gaara hoped that wasn't the case.

Even if had ended up in another dimension, he could've taken solace in the fact that they were alive somewhere.

He stilled his breathing; Shukaku was thankfully giving him a moment's peace while the boy with little emotions try to deal with his loss. It was like nothing he had experienced in years, not since the death of Yashamaru that had forced his infamous identity crisis.

" **You alright, kid?"** Shukaku asked. The Bijuu didn't considered these hosts as completely human; the sealings had affected them in little ways that meant that they weren't _quite_ the same species. But there was more than enough human in them that one could foresee this type of reaction from them after what they just put them through. Jinchuuriki definitely had the same psychological capacities.

Other than the overwhelming feeling of grief, Gaara's new direction became far more clear-cut. Chasing after a return home, no matter how much it stung, was a fool's errand.

" _I... will have to come to terms that I will never see my siblings ever again."_ he said. His words seemed to indicate that he was ready to move on, but his tone was cold and accusatory toward Shukaku.

In his mind, Gaara knew that he would probably never accept this new place and never stop resenting Shukaku in some way. But getting an airship to return home was now suddenly a moot point, as well as finding information about the Elemental Countries.

Meaning that there was no purpose to his existence here. What was left? He could end up trying to follow that Qrow character.

But did he really want to go to that little island? By going to that island, he could start anew and eke out another existence and move on from his old lifestyle and time. It was an invitation, but it came from an obnoxious drunk who had attacked him in broad daylight and only really had interest in him because of his fighting potential.

His other option was one that opened up upon Shukaku's revelations. The Elemental Countries may be gone to the mists of time, but he was not the only one preserved for the future. If what Shukaku said was true, the other eight Jinchuuriki should have undergone what he went through. Seven of them he did not know personally.

" _Naruto's here somewhere... and so are the other Jinchuuriki. I wonder..."_

" **In case you're wondering, no I don't know where they are. You'll have to figure out that one on your own, kid.** "

Gaara made a mental note that it might be time to search out the island of Patch. But, if he was going to be stuck in this place, then he should consider all options on how to make a living.

That would mean going back to life as a weapon. No matter how much he missed his siblings, the world of Remnant represented a fresh start for the Shukaku Jinchuuriki. He wouldn't have to be labeled as the monster; the people of the world never had to know.

He could travel to Patch and resume the combat lifestyle, or he could travel to the capital city of Vale and try to live out a life in peace. But either way, he would never truly leave everything behind.

No matter what, on the side he would always be working towards finding the other Jinchuuriki, and most importantly Naruto.

He would follow Qrow's instructions first and try to find this island and the huntsmen academy apparently located. Who even knew if enrolling in a school would be his calling card, but it couldn't hurt to check out the place.

* * *

Naruto picked up a wagon wheel that had fallen off its spoke, eying it curiously as one of the relics that had been left behind when virtually every member of the Clover Troupe abandoned ship.

Catalhöyuk may have been gone save for its very few survivors, but Naruto had promised to return to the campsite of the Clover Troupe when the battle was all over.

He had to let those faunus out of their cages, after all.

He had left Arslan with Neptune in the meantime. He was slightly wary of doing so with Flidais there, but he doubted she would harm a hair on the girl's head. She still seemed to be in shock as well, and maybe Arslan being there had quelled her violent nature a bit.

The site of the Clover Troupe was of course deserted; it was hard to believe that there had been people working there earlier that day as they prepared to attack an innocent village. But, it was also hard to believe that the pile of rubble over there had been a town mere hours ago.

The sounds of movement and vocalization indicated that there was still life, if only because of the faunus that had been left behind. No one, not a single circus worker had seen fit to go back and release them from their cages.

There came a screeching of old, rusty metal, coming from the open doors of the Grimm cages and they swung back and forth in the wind. The fabric of the big tent also fluttered in the humid wind, but as Naruto approached, all eyes were on him.

It was another thing all together, to see it in person when even compared to the recollection of a clone. Speaking of that, that little conversation with Klaver was still replaying in his head, as well.

He went up to the one of the cages, his clone's memory replaying in his mind. The one right in front of him was the one that held a total of eight faunus, each in their own derelict condition.

He could've probably ripped the doors clean off its hinges, but instead he went back to Klaver's wagon in order to scrounge for keys. He found them all sorts of key rings in his desk drawer, pilfering all of them and stuffing them in his pockets.

As he did so, another object in the room caught his attention from its shine. It was a small rectangular object sitting on the floor of the wagon. Naruto narrowed his eyes; Arteshir had educated him on what these square things were.

They were called scrolls, one of the many examples of this place's advanced technology that served as a means to talk to people over long distances. Klaver had left his behind in his haste to escape.

His clone's memory indicated that Otto van Klaver got a call from someone named Ms. Tremaine Fall while they were both having their little episode.

This device could be a veritable goldmine of information on Klaver, in case he ever had to deal with the ringmaster again. Perhaps he could use to incriminate, track, or hinder Klaver in case that ever became necessary.

Naruto ran a finger over the sleek device, not knowing how to use one of the things. He pressed a random button on the side, nearly surprising himself when the screen flared to life. There were a whole bunch of icons that Naruto didn't understand, a green one in the corner had a small number next to it.

There were five missed calls.

He pocketed the device for later, not really understanding who would have business with Klaver. There was that Ms. Fall woman he supposed, but he didn't think she had anything to do with him.

He twirled the ring of keys he had pilfered, feeling the new weight in his pocket as he returned to the site of the faunus with keys in hand. He twisted the key, feeling the lock loosen and fall off the door handle as he pushed the door open.

The faunus huddled in the corner, fear in their eyes from years of abuse as they collectively stared at Naruto. One of them, the youngest of them all who Naruto noted one missing a dog ear took the first brave step forward.

She reached out a bare foot, almost afraid to take the first step out of her cage. She pulled back and winced, as if someone was going to come out with an electric whip at her escape.

Sighing, Naruto reached forward and lifted her up underneath her armpits. The little girl was paralyzed with fear the moment he did so, her back going rigid.

Naruto's action seemed to trigger something within the other faunus. For a second, there was a bout of unrestrained protective fury as they looked about ready to lash out at the apparent threat.

But as soon as that came, it receded and they began cowering in the corner in fear as if they were about to get an electric whip. But their fear and aversion soon turned to curiosity as Naruto did nothing more than place her on the ground gently, before bending over to brush some dirt off her old smock.

She seemed to relax as he did so, staring up at him with wonder.

"You're all free to go. Those circus guys won't be coming back here any longer..."

The other faunus seemed to get a little more comfortable at his presence and began making their way out of their cage, holding a similar look of wonder to the little dog girl.

"Thank you..." said the old beaver man who had been turned blind in one eye. He spoke for all of them, who seemed to be a little bit too beaten down to speak yet.

One by one, Naruto went to the other faunus cages and unlocked them, the process going a bit easier this time due to the first group assuring the others that Naruto meant no harm.

In total, there were about fifty faunus in total freed from their cages, if Naruto's headcount was anything to go by. All of them were in terrible condition, dirty, near emaciated, and often missing body parts or part of their animal traits.

"Welp, you guys are free now!" Naruto said, grinning widely as he dusted his hands off in satisfaction after opening the last of the cages. He twirled the key ring on the end of his finger, but when he turned around he wasn't expecting to see fifty pairs of eyes staring up expectantly at him.

"Where are we supposed to go?" one female faunus asked weakly, her voice croaky from an extended period of disuse. Naruto bit his lip; he freed the faunus but in his mind helping people was a lot simpler.

Their condition; he couldn't leave them here like this. They were clearly starving, and were in no condition to just break out there on their own with no food and Grimm everywhere.

So many eyes on him... it was slightly unnerving when you realized how much these people were relying on him. Freeing them from their confines wasn't the end of it, and with him the one to do so, he had taken the unspoken responsibility of caring for their well being.

It was almost nightfall when Naruto returned to the site where Catalhoyuk once stood. The battlefield wasn't as packed with as it should've due to Grimm leaving no traces upon being killed, but that didn't make it less hideous as the blood and entrails of those who had fought were littered all over the place.

Smoke was rising up in a plume from the center of the village, but only from a small campfire that had been built by the survivors while Naruto was away. Neptune, Arslan, and Flidais should have all been there, and Naruto and the freed faunus snuck quietly into the village.

No one faunus would dare break off from the group at this point to venture out into the woods on their own, but when they made it back to the ruins of Catalhoyuk, some of them began to mingle with the survivors. They must've been used to the cold of nights in these swamps, as they break off into smaller groups and gravitated towards the fires that the survivors built.

Naruto was regarding them; his relationship with the faunus seemed to be that they were looking toward him for guidance. But they broke off from him easily enough that Naruto was given some relief instead of having to look after fifty broken faunus.

He found Arslan, Neptune, and Flidais huddled around a fire near what was once the village square, albeit on opposite sides of the fire and not looking at each other. Rather, Flidais wasn't looking at anyone, while Neptune just looked wary of her and Arslan looked like she was crying again. The shock had worn off for her and emotions and more sorrowful emotions were starting to come to the forefront, as she huddled herself up in a ball and sobbed quietly.

One thing was for certain; in the aftermath of the invasion, those that had survived were lost and confused.

No one looked up when he approached, not even Flidais. She didn't have the energy to fight him on anything anymore. As night fell over the ruined village, Naruto sat down in the circle.

They were a motley crew. A village warrior with a nasty streak, a circus worker from the ones who had attacked them in the first place, the late village chieftain's daughter, and a displaced blonde who had no home here to begin with.

Seemingly none of their goals would ever align.

"Neptune... what do you plan to do now?" Naruto asked.

"I don't have anywhere to go. I kinda have this dream, but... it's never been something I've been to able to follow while working for the circus..."

Now that things had calmed down, this was a time to get to know Neptune.

"About that... why were you even traveling with those guys if you weren't even comfortable with the things that they did?" Naruto asked, and even Flidais perked up from her trance, if only slightly.

Neptune's shoulders slackened.

"Well, I'm just some kid from the streets of Mistral. Funny thing about that place... big gap between the rich and poor, y'know? And people don't really notice the ones at the bottom. It was just my mom, my two brothers, and me."

"Ouch. So, if you have family, why were you out here?" Naruto asked what appeared to be the burning question, because Neptune Dam broke after that.

"Because I'm the unfavorite middle brother, that's why! Klaver doesn't just go around attacking villages outside the kingdoms to get his employees; he goes into the walls themselves and recruits any way he can. We nearly lost the house, four of us underneath that tiny roof with barely any food, so my mom took the easy way out and gave me up to the circus. So, here I am, but it wasn't all bad. These clothes are so much more cleaner and comfortable than what I'm used to, and I was well fed. We were all well fed..."

All three of the others at the fire stared at him.

"Your own mother _sold_ you?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Yeah, we never had the best relationship. Mom always resented all of us anyway. She's never had much money anyway and now she has to split it between three boys. But I was the unfavorite, the one she sold off because she preferred me the least. I can't go back to them; I don't even know if she's alive. I stole her only means of defense out of spite after I was sold to the circus..." Neptune said, looking at his weapon.

"If I ever got out of the Clover Troupe, I decided I was going to apply for a huntsman academy. If I can achieve that, I'll never have to be controlled by anyone ever again. I can be free, to do what I want and never have to worry about money ever again..."

Arslan was listening intently, poking her head out from her slumped form and eying Neptune with red, tearstained eyes. The thought of joining an academy like Sanctum had never occurred to her before, but protecting humanity... she could see herself doing that if it meant preventing more disasters like what had happened to her home village.

"It's just..." Neptune continued, "Even getting into one of the primary huntsman schools is hard. They have a rigorous entrance exam; most of the applicants come from a combat background or were born into a rich or noble family that pulls some strings. I don't have either of those things."

"So... I guess from here on out, I'm going back to Mistral, and I'm going to take that entrance exam when I turn thirteen. So, I have only about a year to get as strong as I can possibly be to pass that test."

Naruto grinned at him; the boy had seemed nothing more than a weak-willed kid when he was out on the battlefield. If he could get to Mistral and make something of himself, then...

"What about you, Naruto? What do you plan on doing now?"

Naruto sat crosslegged, pondering the question. What to do indeed. He still had no idea on how he had gotten here, or how he was going to get back. In a twisted sort of way, Catalhoyuk's destruction had forced his mind to get back on track with priorities. He had been spending too much time in the village, and his mind had been on protecting it from Grimm invasion and the threat of the Clover Troupe.

"I don't know. I suppose I knew I wasn't going to stay here forever. I needed to move on sooner or later, but I'm still completely lost. I wanna get back home."

"You could always come with me. I could use the company," Neptune replied. Naruto stared at the ground for a moment, mulling over his options. Neptune probably needed all the help he could get to get accepted into this school; Naruto supposed he could help him with training when they had the free time.

He would be going to Mistral, where he didn't even know if that held the answers he sought. Hell, he couldn't even comprehend the questions to ask about his predicament.

But it was better than sticking around in this hole and getting nothing done. Or worse, constantly attracting Grimm. Within the capital's walls, he shouldn't really have the problems he'd been having out in the wild.

Naruto held out his hand, smiling at Neptune.

"Alright, we'll travel together!" he said, while Neptune smiled back at him and sealed their agreement with a firm handshake.

As Neptune and Naruto held their conversation, one person who was paying enraptured attention was sitting off their left, poking her head out of the ball she had curled up into.

This did not go unnoticed by the only adult among the group.

"Arslan... when you are rested up, we're leaving..." Flidais suddenly piped up. The three kids around the fire jolted to attention, particularly the girl Flidais was addressing.

"W-What? Leaving for where?" Arslan asked.

"We need to take refuge in the next village over. Your father may be dead, but I'll be damned if I left his only child be left unsupervised in Grimm territory. And I will not let you fall in with the wrong crowd..." Flidais growled that last part.

"I see you freed those faunus. Monsters, the lot of them. I saw their condition the moment you came back; how dare they treat them that way..." Flidais seethed, "I'll take all of them off your hands; if you're going to take that brat to Mistral, then I don't either them or Arslan associating with someone with ties to that blasted circus..."

It was funny how this insufferable woman was mingling around them when just earlier that day she had been so inclined to attack him out of nowhere. She refused to apologize for any of it, and probably the only reason she wasn't attacking them now was because Arslan was in their presence.

Naruto directed a glare at her, which he had been doing quite a bit of ever since they met.

"Alright, fine. _You_ take care of them; it was getting to be a bit overwhelming anyway. I don't even know what to do anyway. Do we even have any food? They're starving..."

Flidais gave a hollow laugh.

"Food? We don't have food! We don't have anything now!" she spat out at him, as if she were blaming him. Which, she in fact probably was, "Out of the frying pan and into the fire. They're hardly equipped to dealing with the world out there! I'd be surprised if even half of them survive the trek to the next village we can find!"

Naruto looked bothered as Flidais took one final look at him, grabbing Arslan's wrist roughly and dragging her new charge away to go round up the other faunus. The lion girl twisted her head and around and stared at Naruto with a mixed expression. He stared back; she had been acting strange for a few minutes now. He honestly expected her to still be mourning the death of her father, and she probably was, but Naruto and Neptune's conversation had seemingly left her mystified, and it was like someone rained on her parade the moment Flidais decided to make her presence known as Arslan's apparent legal guardian.

Did they even interact much? Naruto hadn't seen that during his short stay. It just seemed that Flidais was grateful to Arteshir for taking her in, but there was no indication that Flidais and Arslan were ever close. In fact, it was just the opposite.

He put his head back down and thought of the faunus. He had gotten to enraged to the way the Clover Troupe had treated them, but was there such a thing as a misplaced rescue? Surely it wasn't alright to leave them rotting in those cages, but the alternative? How many would succumb to disease and famine before they could get help?

Naruto tucked his bottom lip into his mouth, and for a moment that was gone as quick as it came, he felt doubt.

* * *

And we're done here.

So, Neptune's backstory and motivations from before still apply, but I've moved them to here. With that, it means that the next story arc is now underway.

 _ **The God of Pikmin**_


	10. Archaeology

And here we go.

* * *

Chapter 10: Archaeology _  
_

"Well, this is Vale city, it seems..." Gaara deadpanned, taking in the advanced skyscrapers as he walked one of the city's roads. This place put the cities back home to shame in size, but the skyscrapers themselves seemed fairly rundown.

Based on a map he had gotten of the city, there were several airship depots dotted around the place. He could travel by boat to Patch's shores or travel by air to touch directly down at Signal Academy.

Only one problem. Airship tickets cost a lot, and he didn't have any money. If Qrow was so interested in his fighting ability, why didn't he leave Gaara with more than a cryptic message to find the island of Patch?

"I wonder if I can find work at this new club that's opened up on the other side of Vale," he heard someone say.

"I wouldn't get involved with stuff like that. Did you hear about the latest robbery?"

"Yeah... but apparently Junior isn't behind this one. Heard ever since he got out of prison he's gone steady; opened up his own club on the this side of town recently. Rumors are flying around that he still has fingers in the underground and will provide information for whoever may need it, but it seems like a legitimate place to work. But anyway, this robbery was apparently orchestrated by this new kid on the block, barely over twenty-one."

"That's terrible. Seems like the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Have you heard about the White Fang?"

"Yeah, them too. Thought they just used to be a misguided peaceful protest group, but now they've turned violent and have been attacking places out in the boonies. Even heard some rumors that some factions have taken up residence in the city..."

Gaara paid some manner of attention to the conversation, picking up a couple of key points from what the two men sitting at a bus stop nearby were saying.

" _Information broker..._ "

He was hearing news on the White Fang as well. It only made sense that a major organization like them would operate out of cities as well, but he had no business with them as long as that hotheaded teen didn't make good on his promise to turn him into a bogeyman.

A breeze kicked up slightly, ruffling the fliers that were tacked to a nearby bulletin board that the two men conversing nearby had apparently been looking at.

As they vacated the area, talking about something new or other, Gaara took a look at the flier that had caught their eye. Indeed, it was both an advertisement for the business and a help wanted sign.

It was a stylized drawing of what appeared to be a dance floor with several multi-colored arrays of light that seemed to resemble strobe lights. On the right side there was the silhouette of a man standing behind what was an equally darkened bar.

In big bold letters at the top is simply read "The Club", while at the bottom in smaller writing was "Help Wanted", along with directions and the address.

Gaara was alone, without money and without information. This could apparently kill two birds with one stone, so he took down the flier from its perch, folded it, and placed it in his pocket.

He began walking down the street at a casual pace, his strange dress and gourd drawing many odd looks from the surrounding passerby. He had entered the city through the southeast, avoiding the rundown settlement he had seen on the outskirts of the city and just entering into the city proper.

It seemed fairly commercial, but he had noted that it didn't seem very high-class and kept up to standard. People ran businesses, but probably with a fair amount of shady dealings beneath the surface.

Every alleyway he passed seemed like it was hiding some mugger who would be getting an unfortunate lesson on how to pick their targets, but no such thing happened as Gaara passed building after building, hanging turns when need be to follow the directions on the flier.

The sun was beginning to set on the horizon by the time he was done walking through town, with the street lamps and neon business lights beginning to come on.

As he turned onto the street that the club was on, he could've said he was expecting something different. He would've thought a nightclub to be located on some kind of popular strip alongside many other types of businesses that made up the night life. But as he read the address on the old office business and matched it with the flier, he realized there was little around.

There were some half completed buildings and a couple skyscrapers adjacent to it, but that was about it. The rest was just road and empty lots on all sides, but the sound of blaring music coming from the basement of the building indicated that he was in the right place.

He turned his nose up at the loud music, but he approached the club anyway to pull open the heavy double doors to access the interior of the place he wanted to check out.

The loud music assaulted his ears, louder still as he opened the door and felt the full blast. The multi-colored strobe lights also assaulted his senses, and as he entered his sandals clacked against the metal staircase.

The first thing he noticed that a nightclub flooded with patrons this was not. Even though the sun was setting and prime time hours would be beginning soon, there was scarcely anyone on the dance floor or at the bar.

Those who were there happened to be dressed all the same, decked out in the same red suits and sunglasses, and black hats. It looked like a uniform of some sorts, possibly a unique one meant for the employees of the club.

He ignored the unfriendly looks a few of them were giving him and walked out onto the dance floor, making a beeline toward the bar area. Upon being so, he came face to chest with those black suits again, as about four of the men he had seen lingering around the dance floor formed a human wall blocking him from moving.

"Hold it, kid. Aren't you a little young to be in this club?"

Gaara was obviously not intimidated.

"I'm not here to drink. I'm here to speak to the owner about possible employment."

Apparently he had said something amusing, because the group around him all put away their weapons and began bursting out into laughter. The only one not smiling was Gaara, in the center of it all.

"That's a good one, kid! But ya need to be 21 to work in a bar, and you look just a _little_ bit under the age requirement. So why don't ya stumble on home and get your momma to fix you a sandwich or something!"

"Rumor has it you don't care much about rules and regulations, anyway."

That remark seemed to wipe most of the laughter off their faces, but what replaced it was not anger, but suspicion. Junior's reputation was known throughout the city, and it had taken a few... favors with the council of Vale to cause them to turn a blind eye to the ex-con trying to climb his way back up to the top.

The business itself may have been legitimate, but the reputation itself could be bad for business and the side jobs couldn't get out to the government.

Several of them drew their weapons, which appeared to be a mixture of the same swords and guns.

"Alright, kid. What's your deal? You goin' around lookin' for trouble?"

"Hey! What do you idiots think you're doing? Get back to work! We're not even close to prepared for the evening!" a deep booming voice shouted over the din, and the group of goons surrounding Gaara jumped.

They all split in random directions, one of them tripping and falling flat on his face. And when was the wall of thug was finally cleared, it gave Gaara clear vision of the bar and the large man behind it cleaning the counter.

"And what do you think you're doing here, kid? Get the hell out of here! Place ain't for the likes of you!" the man that would probably turn out to be Junior snapped, pointing a rag at the boy.

Gaara calmly blinked, not even responding at the hostile tone the bartender was giving him and also refusing to accommodate his demands. Instead, he walked directly up to the nearest barstool and looked the owner directly in the eye.

"I'm looking for work."

"I don't hire kids. This is a place of partying and drinking..." Junior growled back at the boy, going back to wiping the counter, "Now get out before I have someone throw you out..."

"I see why you don't hire underage. But I've also heard about your little side job and the exploits that you're still involved in. I can assure you that I can be a asset in that department. I'll even take a paycut..."

Junior looked at him strangely.

"The only thing I'd give to the likes of you would be the busboy in the back; you'd never see the bar or the dance floor. It's already a deadend job and doesn't pay well. And you're telling me you'll work for even _less_. Why do you want this job so bad?"

Junior looked over to the side, noting that some of his boys were giving Gaara a dirty look. He glanced back, and realized how odd the boy looked. Was he a faunus or not? Junior couldn't tell, and what was with the weird gourd he carried on his back.

"In exchange for my work and a paycut, I'd like information. I have heard that you are one of the best information brokers in the area, and I could really use assistance."

"Access to my information network is work a lot more than an underpaid bus boy. How do I know if I give you that privilege, you won't do something to compromise me?"

Gaara looked around at the various liquor bottles that littered the shelves.

"I don't give a damn about petty criminals and what they're doing. I need employment while at the same time needing general information about the kingdom and world. I am not from around this area, and there has been something on my mind that I must investigate..."

Junior gave Gaara another once over, figuring out the implication that Gaara was rather... displaced.

"Alright, fine. I'm willing to go for 6 lien an hour to be my bus boy. Below Vale's minimum wage, but you said you were willing to take the paycut. As for the other part of the deal, don't ask me for any information until I'm sure I can trust you. Until then, you'll be washing dishes in the back. It's not a glamorous job kid..."

Junior stuck his hand out, ready to consolidate the deal.

Gaara mulled it over one final time, but with his mind already made up he reached forward, grasped the large man's hand, and shook.

* * *

The sun was barely peaking over the horizon when Naruto awoke the next day, and the only reason he did so was because the sounds of shuffling jolted him from dreamland.

The brisk autumn air roused him further from his sleep as it buffeted his face and chapped his skin, before he stretched and pulled himself to his feet. Neptune was still fast asleep on the other side of the remains of the campfire, but no one else was still sleeping around the other ones that dotted the ruins of the village.

The faunus who had been freed had no belongings, but Flidais was rounding all of them up alongside anyone who was willing to travel with her. The numbers looked slightly more thinned out as compared to those who had set up camp yesterday. No doubt there were some that broke off into their own refugee groups to move elsewhere.

Some people thought they could make it in their own way, probably to hunt for food. Last night, both the limited food stock from the village and from what was left of the circus was used to feed the freed faunus. But there still wasn't enough food to go around with everyone left behind, and one night of proper eating would cure them of their malnourishment.

They were in no condition to move, but they couldn't stay here.

Naruto picked out a mop of blonde hair similar to a lion's mane out amongst the people milling about, and when he found Arslan, he also found Flidais. The woman had Arteshir's daughter stitched at the hip, it seemed.

Flidais was barking out instructions. If Naruto hadn't woken up on his own, then Flidais would've probably whisked all of them away under Naruto's nose. He had given over custody of the faunus to her, but taking Arslan without even saying goodbye was too much.

Naruto was in no mood to try and interact with her further. She was a faunus; she would surely take care of them. The only thing he was concerned about was Arslan. Flidais had never shown a capacity to significantly care about Arslan's wellbeing. Flidais didn't have the personality to be a kind of caretaker. It seemed like she was taking care of Arslan because she felt indebted to her father. Arslan was a monument to her pride, and Flidais' version of a memento for Arteshir.

The blond genin scrambled around in the dirt and ash of the used campsite, crawling over to where Neptune lay, still out like a log.

He roused Neptune awake, and the other boy batted at his hand in protest as turned on his other side. Naruto grinned a shit-eating grin, but still looked slightly irritated as he began to repeatedly beat his hands lightly against Neptune's turned back.

"Owowowowowowowowow! I'm up!" Neptune yelled, his voice croaky from the night's disuse. He pulled himself up from his sleeping bag, his legs getting stuck a few times as he tried to pull himself out.

The morning air hit him like it did Naruto, and he began to notice the fog of early morning.

"It's chilly! Why are we up so early?"

"Everyone else is already up. Looks like someone wanted to take everyone they could before we even woke up and leave..." Naruto panned his eyes toward the front of the village.

"Surprised she didn't try to kill us in our sleep. But, why do we care? You said you were going to let her take care of those faunus."

"It's more Arslan I'm worried about. Even then, I wonder if giving them off to her is a good move? What do you think I should do? I don't know how to take care of fifty starving faunus, and she was so adamant about taking them off my hands. I thought that being one of them she'd have their best interest in mind, but..."

"Well, if it bothers you so much, maybe we should trail them for a while, at least until they make it to the next village over..." Neptune reached over across the log that was nearby and grabbed his backpack that he had set down there the previous night. The closest village they would probably be heading to was a couple day's away, and it brought them in the direction of Mistral anyway.

"I'm sure we can manage a slight detour," Neptune added, eying Naruto mull it over.

"I can't settle this feeling I have otherwise. Alright, we should track them for a little while just to be safe, but Flidais won't like that so we'll have to lay low. Look, it seems they're getting ready to leave right now."

A few of the faunus were stealing glances over at their campsite, seeming to wonder whether the one who had freed them from the cages would be joining them.

Naruto followed suit with Neptune after grabbing his own pack, hoisting it over his shoulder. When he did so, it felt like more eyes were suddenly on his back.

He sensed motion from his new partner, and then looked to see Neptune gesturing subtly with his head over in the direction of the group. Flidais had taken notice of him waking up and was staring him down.

Naruto stared back, but he didn't do anything else. He merely watched her, silently judging her while letting her know he wasn't going to take any action.

Flidais broke the gaze first, and when she did Naruto moved his eyes directly to the right to see Arslan avoiding eye contact with pretty much everybody.

"Is she just going along with them because she feels obligated to, or because she feels she has nowhere else to go?" Neptune asked, adjusting his backpack after folding his weapon into its compact form and stowing it within one of the pouches.

" _Alright, let's get going!"_

Naruto and Neptune both ignored the barked order meant for the people under her charge.

"She's been looking at me weird other than the attack, but she should be safe in the next village over. She hasn't shown any interest in wanting to get wrapped up in what we're doing."

The Clover faunus survivors began to file out of the ruined village alongside Flidais and the survivors who were traveling with them. In terms of transportation, there were no vehicles or beasts of burden to help lighten the load, so they were all going on foot.

Naruto held an arm out to stop Neptune when he began to walk forward.

"Not yet..."

Naruto surveyed Neptune. He was going to travel by tree when he could after they'd gotten a fair distance away, but Neptune didn't have the ninja skills to follow him up there.

"I'll go ahead and follow them by myself; you'll stand out too much and Flidais will be sure to notice you. She's so damn paranoid she probably _is_ thinking that we'll try something. I can blend into the trees and follow from afar without being noticed."

"Alright. I'll just head down the east route. There's a town directly southeast to where they're headed called Shina. I'll stay at the inn there and wait for you, so we should meet up in a couple of days..." Neptune agreed.

Naruto and Neptune high fived each other as the former passed the latter, with the refugee group having already vacated the village completely by the time they were done talking.

The two bid their goodbyes as Neptune headed to the east while Naruto followed Flidais' group to the northeast. As he exited the ruined village, he could still see the pack further along the trail as they headed to their next destination.

Naruto bounced on the balls of his feet, feeling the marshy ground below him. He stretched his legs, feeling the slight soreness from the rigors of the previous day.

Minutes later, he was moving through the trees and bushes on the side of the road, closing the gap between himself and the rest of the group as he moved. At the top of one of the trees growing in the swampy area, he stopped, feeling the chakra channeled in his feet as he clung to the tree.

He could see the group more clearly now, with Flidais and Arslan at the head. Nothing seemed amiss with the deer woman; she didn't seem aware that she being pursued.

"Gonna be a long trip if they're going at this pace. How long would it take these guys to move across this stupid continent?" Naruto moaned, throwing his hands up and clasping them across the back of his head.

Being up in the tree allowed Naruto to survey the land somewhat. As the sun crept its way across the horizon, Naruto fell into the monotony of watching the faunus travel at a snail's pace.

Within the first couple hours was when problems arose. Some of the child faunus were being carried by their parents or guardians, but none of the faunus were healthy enough to make the trip.

About two hours after leaving the village, a weak faunus mother collapsed into the marshy trail they were traveling upon. Naruto could even see the exact moment she hit the dirt from his perch.

The lack of food had finally got to one of them, and with it the entire journey ground to a halt. People began crowding around the downed female in concerned, and Naruto could see Flidais push her way through the crowd to address the situation.

They were just milling about, already with a roadblock in their journey. That was enough for Naruto, who leapt out of the tree and took off down the road at his top speed, trying his damnedest to catch up to the group.

Following Flidais incognito had been thrown out the window; the situation was worse for these faunus than Naruto ever realized. If Flidais yelled at him or threatened him, then so be it.

Several people in the group perked up as he approached, their attention and faunus hearing being drawing to the squelches in the muddy ground. Naruto's eyes were trained on the woman on the ground, and as he approached he fell to his knees to assess the situation.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Naruto ignored Flidais, who was also standing by tending to the woman but had jumped to her feet the moment she saw him approach.

The faunus on the ground was of the rodent variety, probably a rat or mouse judging from the tail sprouting out of her backside. She was rail thin as well, and that coupled with the bloating around her midsection indicated that she was malnourished.

The fatigue was too much for her; she was too weak to continue moving or even stand. She gave several pained moans of hunger as her chest rose and fell.

Naruto rose his head and leveled a glare at Flidais.

"Well, don't just stand there. You gonna do something or what? They're _your_ charges now, aren't they?" Naruto spat at the deer woman, who actually didn't look prepared to deal with this.

Naruto shook his head.

"What did you think was going to happen?"

This seemed to snap Flidais out of her momentary stupor.

"Alright, everyone. We're making camp for the time being while we tend to her!" Flidais turned her head, looking around the landscape near them before spotting a small opening in all the underbrush that led to a small clearing between the treeline and the banks of the swamp.

"And _you..._ " she stared at Naruto, "I need a _word_ with you for a moment..." she said, walking past Naruto only to grab his jumpsuit and practically pull him aside.

Naruto glared back, but went along with things because he too had some choice words for the faunus woman.

"Stay here!" Naruto said as he twisted around his head to order the faunus as he was manhandled. The abused and broken down faunus stared at them blankly, whispering to themselves as they began milling around. They were too weak to do much else, but the way they looked down upon their fallen comrade was with concern.

Flidais pushed Naruto's back into a tree and glowered at him.

"What are _you_ doing here? You may have freed them from their cages, but I told you _I_ wasn't going to let you look after them anymore. You're too much of a danger to them, and I still don't trust you..."

Naruto grabbed her wrist and pushed it away, looking up at the taller, black-haired woman to stare straight into her eyes.

"And some leader you are. You just decided to whisk them out of the village without a damn for the consequences. Did it ever occur to you that they might be able to make that trip? All you thought about was getting them away from me, you stupid scumbag bitch! We ran out of food, but you didn't even bother foraging for some. Hell, you could've _asked me_ and I would've easily done it! But you had to let your stupid distrust of me get in the way of that. And now you've got your charges collapsing in the middle of the road."

 _Rrrgghhhh!_

Naruto and Flidais nearly jumped out of their skin when a multitude of Grimm were peaking out of the nooks and crannies of the landscape, out from over hills and beyond trees to follow the source of hatred.

"No!" Flidais cried, recognizing the tell-tale signs of Grimm activity and bursting forth from the treeline where she had pulled Naruto off to the side. More Grimm were coming from all sides.

Flidais took a single second to glare at Naruto, and her face told him everything he needed to know on what she was saying.

The faunus group were sitting ducks, and by the time Naruto and Flidais circled back to protect the ground, a group of Ursae were already boring down upon them.

They had huddled together, fear burning in their eyes. Arrows and kunai were thrown on the creatures of darkness, picking off several of the group of Grimm that had been both drawn to Naruto and the misery of the faunus.

When all was said and done, a few Grimm managed to get past Naruto and Flidais and kill four of the faunus, biting clean through their neck or slashing them to bits with their claws before being done in by the two humanoids with combat ability.

Seeing the first one of their group go down is what set the panic in, as they broke their close huddle for more of a everyone for themselves vibe, fanning out in random directions without any clear plan of escape. A few of them even ran straight into the treeline, making things even more difficult.

"Damn it!" Naruto roared, jumping between a child faunus and the last Beowolf that was attempting to bite his head off. He stuck his arm out instead, wrenching the beast's mouth open before pulling off its jaw with his bare hands.

The Grimm were gone for the time being, and the screaming and crying began to slowly dissipate as those faunus who had remained in the vicinity began to calm down when they realized the threat was immediately gone.

Most of them began milling around again, gravitating back toward the center of the road and begin to form a gradually larger group. But three more had run into the underbrush in the ensuing chaos.

He narrowly avoided an arrow fired at him from Flidais' quiver.

And Naruto was treated once again to hostility from Flidais, hatred smoldering in her eyes as she rattled off arrow after arrow at Naruto, determined to stick one between his heart.

"This is why you are a danger!" she roared, "Several of them are dead, all because you just had to follow us! Even if you do mean well, all you ended up doing was hurt. This was why I didn't want you following us!"

Naruto looked away, and in doing so said it all. He tried to make justifications in his mind about doing the right thing by keeping an eye on Flidais, but was she perhaps the good guy and he the hindrance?

No, all things considered Flidais was a bitter. headstrong, and untrusting faunus whose paranoia and recklessness caused her to act irresponsibly towards her charges she had practically kidnapped.

But even he couldn't deny that Grimm were attracted to him in particular.

"Four of them are _dead_ because of you..." Flidais choked, actually sounding on the verge of tears, "The Grimm wouldn't have come otherwise if you hadn't decided to stick your cursed nose into everything!"

Naruto looked at Flidais, having a Kawarimi ready in case she decided to attack him again, and then at the group of scared faunus, to finally upon the four dead bodies on the swampy ground.

It was a shame they had to leave them there, but already he was hearing the sounds of more Grimm who had come from farther away to seek the coveted source of hatred.

Naruto shoulder checked Flidais as he ran out into the open, giving a guttural roar of anger and despair.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he screamed, so loud he became hoarse.

Nearly fifty clones popped into existence on the swampy road between Catalhöyuk and the next town over, startling the milling about faunus as they stared in wonder.

"What are you doing?" Flidais asked.

Naruto nodded, and the faunus continued to watch in amazement as in completely synchronized tandem the crouched before each individual faunus as if allowing them on his back.

The real Naruto pushed past Flidais, coming to a halt when he stepped down upon the marshy trail again, right to the rear of the mingling group of faunus and clones.

None of the faunus looked up to glance at the real end, instead they mostly mesmerized by the clones who were offering their backs to them.

"Alright, everyone! I know this has all been really scary stuff, but I need you to listen to me for just a moment. We've had the tragic loss of four of your companions due to fatigue and Grimm attack through this dangerous area, and I've decided that you guys are too weak to make the journey by yourselves. If everyone sees the clone right in front of them, would you please climb up onto his back. We will move as a group full speed ahead and make sure you guys get to safety at the next village, even if my clones have to carry you the entire way there!"

Flidais snorted, not seeming to like the idea.

"Carry them upon your back? Do they look stupid to you? How do we even know you…" but she was cut off as one by one, faunus men, women, and children tentatively hoisted themselves onto the back of their initial rescuer, as the clone's hands locked them in place from behind.

All of a sudden, there was a pack of them, nearly fifty Naruto clones each carrying a faunus on his back.

"Alright, we're moving onward!" the real Naruto shouted, giving a commanding point in the direction they were heading, and as he did so, the clones began to take off into a full run.

Their passengers jostled lightly in place as Naruto's clones picked up dust while moving quickly across the road, but overall they seemed able to handle it and were even amazed at the speed Naruto was getting.

"H-Hey, wait!" Flidais cried, breaking out into a run herself not long after the real Naruto followed up the rear of his clones, looking for signs of any Grimm.

There were indeed Grimm along the way, drawn everlastingly to the source of negative emotions that was Naruto. They emerged from the shrubbery off to the side of the road as they were wont to do, but were met with a protective flank of clones on either side that weren't carrying any of the faunus refugees.

Meanwhile, Flidais was taking up the rear, panting as she tried to match Naruto's speed to try and stop him, but to her frustration she couldn't hope to catch him as he was slowly leaving her out of sight.

" _That brat, thinking he can do what he wants! It's his fault we're in this mess at all…_ " she thought to herself, but even she couldn't help but feel that this desperate measure was the only thing keeping the rescued faunus from being sitting ducks.

The clones ran for hours on end, the only signs of fatigue coming in the form of mild grunts and the beads of sweat that appeared on some of their foreheads. The real Naruto remained at the rear, even less exhausted than his clones.

"I see something. Village walls!" he relayed after many hours of running through the swampy forest. It shouldn't have only taken them mere hours to arrive, but the increased pace made that all possible.

But by doing so, the faunus under their care had gotten into worse shape. The strain of the quicker journey had gotten to some of them, and a few were shivering or complete shock on the clone's back.

But they had made it.

"Something's wrong..." Flidais wheezed as she pulled up, first time speaking since Naruto and his clones had broken into a run. She had been lagging behind in the rear, struggling to keep up with Naruto's speed and stamina.

She was too tired to protest anything Naruto did, but now that they had arrived her attention was immediately drawn to the plume of smoke rising out of the village beyond its walls.

Speaking of the walls, there were enough slash marks to tell that there had been a recent attack, as well as the moderate amount of used ammunition that littered the area outside the village gates.

"Is is more Grimm?" Naruto asked.

"No..." the old man faunus who had taken for being the spokesman for the group pointed from his perch on a clone's back, "Look there..."

He was pointing to the top of the village gates, directly above the arch. Naruto saw it immediately after it was pointed out. It looked like a banner of some kind, swaying in the humid breeze proudly over its conquered territory.

It was blood-red and slightly tattered, but clearly displayed the black emblem on the center. It looked like... a gear with a bird wing sticking out and to the right.

"Bandits..." the faunus said. Naruto pushed his way to the forefront of the group, passing through the clones as he regarded the symbol himself. He motioned for the other clones to follow him as he passed through the opening arch.

"If it's not one thing, it's another..." he grumbled, "Let's fan out and search for survivors..." he ordered the rest of the clones as they entered the village proper.

It became evident quickly that there probably wasn't. The village was a disaster area, just as bad if not worse than Catalhoyuk. The wall architecture was crumbling in places which matched the states of the homes nearby which when standing would have looked a lot nicer than those in the village they just came from.

Used weapons and ammunition littered the village square similar to how they did outside the gates, and the odor of blood mixed with dust and smoke wafted around them and made several faunus gag.

Flidais looked around, mesmerized. Her eyes would be trained on one singular thing, before turning to the next one to focus on that.

What stood out most about the invasion though wasn't what had happened, but what _hadn't_ happened. Other than the slash marks outside gate which could also have been made by weapons, there was no sign of Grimm activity. It was like the Grimm were drawn to the village, but once they got inside, merely halted in their assault.

It was an eerie scene, one that was reflected in all of the refugee's faces. It didn't seem possible that such destruction to be wrought by nothing but human hands, and the sheer desolate nature of the abandoned village sent a chill down Naruto's spine.

Naruto ordered his clones to halt as they entered the village square, passing the ruined largest building in the village. The fixture in the middle was a broken and crumbling fountain, no longer having any water flowing in it.

"Look, someone's still here..." the old faunus said, "Oh no..." he said as dread filled his voice. There, sitting on the bench of the fountain was the sole individual left from the attack.

The only problem was, one of the bandits was still there.

He was a mountain of a man, just sitting there with his head down and not even looking at them. Covering his mouth was a veil emblazoned with the same symbol from the banner hung at the front of the village.

But what was most striking about the bandit other than his size was the strange armor he was wearing. It was a sleek, bright red armor that extended all the way down to his legs, and a red kasa on top of his head and white cloth that obscured his face.

He just sat there, calmly and serenely with his hands folded across his lap. Naruto knew he had taken notice of them, but the man waited before raising his head slightly to address them.

He looked over at Flidais. She seemed uncomfortable, unwilling to become a part of this as some part of the large bandit set her at unease. For Naruto, there was also something about the man. Something he could not place.

* * *

And we're done here.

Yes, that is who you think it is. I hope it's obvious enough; it's not supposed to be this big secret.

That's all for now.

 _ **The God of Pikmin**_


	11. Permian

And here we go. Chapter 11. Very information heavy in this chapter; I think it's fair to say that this the best example of a chapter that sets things up for future chapters.

* * *

Chapter 11: Permian

The Kingdom of Altas was by far the most technologically advanced of the four, something that gave them a tremendous advantage and something they never stopped lording over the rest of the kingdoms. Where _would_ the rest of the world be without Atlas genius scientists leading the way? They certainly wouldn't have global communication for one. They also wouldn't have the most technologically advanced military flexing its muscle every other day in the tentative peace that was their current time.

Among those great scientists, Dr. Nero Stromboli was the second greatest mind in the kingdom, but to himself he was number one. That hack Polendina always got the credit as the greatest scientist in the nation, but for what? The kingdom of Atlas was enamored with its military technology and that was the only reason Polendina was as beloved as he was.

He could admit, the man's expertise in robotics was second to none. He had engineered half of Atlas' current military technology on his own. He was the reason the military was stocked with androids, and that was more than Stromboli could say for himself But more often than not he was a specialist, lacking the clout with other fields that Stromboli had.

Now, Stromboli's heart was taken by biology, but he was truly a Renaissance man whose mind could flourish in all manner of study. He could never stand being in Polendina's presence for more than five minutes, his constant moralization and whackjob ideas thanks for that.

The fool even had an idea for a robot that Stromboli found crazy. Not just any robot, a robot shaped like a little girl. That wasn't even the craziest part; he wanted to give it full autonomy and its own soul! Implant aura into a machine, and of course it wouldn't be complete without its own weapons systems. In a completely autonomous robot!

Stromboli didn't know how anyone stood him, and for the most part people respected him without paying much mind to his harebrained schemes. Watts was the only one who entertained the ideas, though Stromboli swore that he was the only academic who could find value in just about anything.

Thankfully, Stromboli and Polendina only had to interact at conventions and when the council called two or more of the top scientists together, but it was still a pain to hear his name constantly in the news. If there was a big discovery though, they would both know at the same time.

Currently, Stromboli was sitting in his study, stoking the fire when he got the call. The scroll began ringing from its place on the table next to his armchair. It wasn't an unusual occurrence; he was a busy man with a lot of contacts.

The man put down the stoker and smoothed out his sleek black hair, proud of himself for the fact that he had eliminated all traces of grey this morning. He really had to thank the cosmetic scientists at the University of Mantle; their experiment to produce the most state-of-the-art non-graying shampoo was a rousing success.

He picked up the scroll off the desk and hit the green button near the bottom corner while noting that the call was not from the university. Rather, it was from the Atlesian capitol building. He put the scroll to his ear and waited through the sounds of static for the person on the other line to speak up.

"Hello, is this Dr. Stromboli?" a young, meek voice asked out.

" _One of the interns..._ " Stromboli thought lazily.

"Yes, this is Nero Stromboli speaking," he answered, putting on a tone that was neither too clipped or too impolite. The college always seemed to call him in for things, some more worth his time than others. Calls from the government were rarer, but not unheard of. It was a gamble to see if it was anything worthwhile, but not one worth getting angry over until he found out the reasons. Honestly though, more often than not government calls only ended in hassle.

"Ooh, yes sir! Sir, your presence has been requested." the intern on the other line said enthusiastically. That wasn't a shocker, and Stromboli rolled his eyes.

"I see. And where shall I be heading to today?" he said briskly.

"I'm... not at liberty to know this information; I was merely meant to inform you. I'll have to hang up in a moment and then you'll be forwarded the information on where you're going to your scroll."

Well, the intern had gotten his attention at least, but he still needed the kicker if this was going to be anything the doctor was going to be interested in.

"I see..." he said simply, and he made the intern's life a little easier by hanging up before the kid had a chance to. When he hit the red button canceling the call, he stared at the blank screen before a moment before characters from a text message appeared that Stromboli recognized immediately.

"Area 61?" he asked himself with distaste.

Area 61 was filled with things the Atlas government in their wisdom decided was not meant to be known by the feeble minds of the average citizens. Military and state secrets were abound there that they wanted covered up, but so was the occasional anomalous phenomenon that only top scientists were privy to study.

It was probably something big, but he would hold off any emotional response until he got there himself. He was already out the door to his study, grabbing a jacket off of his coatrack before he did so as he immediately prepared to travel to the facility.

He was met with the gilded but lonely halls of his Altas chateau. Extraordinarily wealthy was Dr. Stromboli thanks to his many patents and contributions to the kingdom, but he was unmarried. He had a thing for privacy and it was not easy to gain his trust. He had a few servants, but they did not live on the grounds and they were to show up, do their jobs as necessary, and leave. They were not to speak to him and he was not to see them unless it was a matter of grave importance.

It was a recurring joke around his workplace that his house was like one of those abandoned haunted mansions that would pop up in those old horror movies, such was the privacy that Stromboli employed in his home life.

His loafers clacked against the marble floor as he walked down the hallway, passing the suit of armor while not even looking up at the mythical painting directly above it.

He stared out the window, looking at the mountain ranges in the distance as he brushed off his suit and straightened his tie. There was snow on the ground, but there was always snow on the ground, and more importantly it was safe to go out. Stromboli wondered how many more weeks he could say that before the Atlas winter arrived.

He arrived near his destination about an hour later, a decent drive through Atlas' Black Forest outside its capital city. He had hung a right off the main highway to take a secluded interstate to the dead end of a chain link fence with numerous warning signs all over it. Beyond it was restricted territory, and when Stromboli got there he stopped and waited.

Armed guards were surely informed about his arrival, and there were always some stationed by the entrance to the grounds. They were trained to recognize his license plate number.

After a few minutes of waiting, the gate slowly opened itself, letting Stromboli take his car through onto a dirt road, weaving through snowfields and evergreen trees on his way to the military base.

It really quite snuck up on you the first time going to the base. Stromboli hung a right turn and then the base came into view for the first time, a fortress of science and technology all by itself in the middle of the wilderness.

He produced a special parking pass from his glove box that he hung on his mirror, nonchalantly parking in a space right near the entrance of the facility. After all the clearance procedures he had to go through, the doctor was led through the south wing of the facility by an intern that had been stationed to meet him in the atrium.

They didn't speak much on their trip through the facility. Stromboli simply followed the intern until he was passed off to military personnel after entering through a large steel door.

After more hallways that led them deep underground underneath the ice sheets, one of the Atlesian soldiers scanned his fingerprint on a device near the final door.

He wasn't anywhere near any of the weapons testing facilities. Text was scrolling along the digital screen at the top of the door frame and read "Laboratory #7".

The metal door slid open with a whir as the soldier correctly entered his information. He ushered the top scientist through the door before standing at attention respectfully.

"This is where I leave you, as everything you see from this point out will be classified information according to the brass. The council is waiting on standby for a video conference call scheduled in about five minutes. Have a wonderful day, Dr. Stromboli..."

When the raven-haired scientist was fully in the room, the door shut behind him. He didn't even take a moment to glance back at it, but he was alone in the lab.

There didn't seem anything unusual, and Stromboli couldn't figure out why they had called him here under such classified circumstances. But then he saw that there was a display case against the east wall of the lab that was shut. Normally, it was a type of exhibit meant for large specimens of Grimm. A cage if you will, displayed by a bulletproof window so that researchers could look in.

Stromboli sighed, taking a seat in front of the monitors of the large database at the front of the lab. He waited there until a panel opened up in front of him, and a hologram projection was displayed right in front of the monitors.

It was a projection of nine of the twelve members of the council, three of the seats Stromboli could see were empty. Some of them must've been away on business. Atlas' council was bigger than a kingdom like Vale's, so it was difficult to get all the seats there for anything.

Ironwood wasn't there... he noticed.

His mood always darkened somewhat whenever he saw the council fatcats, but he restrained himself from breaking out in a full blown sneer. But it quickly surfaced anyway as another box popped up within the hologram within the top right corner, another live camera feed.

Polendina...

"Stromboli... we are glad you could make it..."

The scientist grunted, stealing a glance at Polendina on the screen. They were polar opposites in practically every way. Ivory vs. tanned skin, sleek black hair vs. balding white hair, and sneers vs. smiles. Polendina smiled at Stromboli as a friendly greeting.

"Likewise... I'm happy to be here..." Stromboli drawled.

"Let's get down to business then, shall we? Dr. Polendina, if you would?"

The balding white haired man in the top corner of the screen cleared his throat.

"Good to see you, old friend. I suppose you're wondering why you were called here on such short notice. Well, we've got a discovery here that will knock your socks off. If you would please turn your attention to the display panel to your right."

Stromboli didn't budge, glaring at the man who had taken his rightful place for a moment. If Polendina was phased by this, he didn't show it at all. But that only made things more infuriating for Stromboli. Throughout everything, no matter how much venom he threw Polendina's way, the other scientist had the outright gall to just stand there and pretend they were friends.

"Nero!"

One of the council members barked at him, the undertone being an order. It cowed him enough to do what he was told, rotating his body to look at the display case, the metal panel of which was slowly being raised to reveal the familiar glass case.

Stromboli narrowed his eyes from the light behind the case. The first thing he noticed was the deep maroon color of what appeared to be some kind of crystalline material.

The stoic man nearly gasped on what he saw. Perfectly preserved in the center of it like a fly in amber was the form of what appeared to be a man, perfectly contained as if he were still alive.

"My gods! What is this?"

"We're calling this the most well-preserved mummy we've ever discovered." Polendina piped up, "Quite the impressive discovery; for years we thought the iceman of the Atlas Alps was the most well-preserved mummy we've had on record. Not so anymore."

The material... if one could even call it a crystal gave off a brilliant sheen underneath the light, and Stromboli was mesmerized by it and all that it entailed.

"If you can even call this a mummy! He looks like a fly in amber! And what is this material even? Crystal? I'm struggling to comprehend how a crystal could form around and perfectly preserve a human."

The council was silent as the two scientists pontificated, but both of them could feel their presence in their background.

"That was our first question as well. This material is unlike anything we've ever seen before; there are no other known deposits of anything close to what this is anywhere in the world. It was also particularly isolated on the fossil, meaning that unlike many other types of fossils, the material wasn't found anywhere else besides on the specimen. In other words, it was like this particular agent was used to preserve the specimen and nothing else around it. There was no other instances of this... crystal appearing adjacent to where the specimen was found."

Stromboli's mind worked over many hypotheses about the specimen in the display case, each one more preposterous than the last. What he failed to understand was why this specimen was being regarded with the same care as a top military secret.

"The material is virtually indestructible too. We've been trying to scrap small bits of it off for samples, but nothing has worked so far. Not even the latest in Atlas technology can break off a small chunk of it. So we ran some other dating methods using the whole thing, and this is where the ramifications of such a find come into play. We have estimated that the object itself is in the neighborhood of one-hundred million years old." Polendina explained, with a completely straight face.

Stromboli's eyes widened, and he slammed a fist down on the dashboard.

"What?! How is that possible? One hundred million years old! We estimate the World of Remnant itself as barely older than that based on the geological time scale, and we certainly don't have any collectible date from the earliest epoch of the planet. Are you telling me this is the oldest _thing_ that science has ever discovered?"

One of the council members piped up this time while Polendina remained silent.

"That is indeed correct, Dr. Stromboli."

"And the man inside... hmph," Stromboli scoffed, "The idea is preposterous. A perfectly preserved human almost as old as time itself? Ridiculous; there must be another explanation."

Polendina reentered the conversation.

"That was my first thought as well. It's illogical to believe that humanity was existent back in the early days of Remnant. Humanity dates back to a mere ten thousands years, and this gentlemen's garb looks strange but shockingly modern."

"He's wearing sunglasses, for God's sake! It's illogical to assume he's even primitive man, let alone from an epoch where we know humanity to not have existed. A millions of years old man in a crystal, ridiculous. But, dismissing that possibility any leads to more questions than answers."

Polendina and Stromboli carried on their discussion as two scientists were ought to do. But the Atlesian council was still there to inject its fair share of politics into the conversation.

"People are going to draw their own conclusions, if they were hear about a man trapped in a millions of years old object. We are at a strange turning point in our culture. There are some people who still believe that the world is a mere three thousand years old. Those some people happen to be a part of influential groups within the walls of our kingdom, if you understand my meaning. It doesn't seem to be worth the expenses to research this in great capacity; I suppose we will just keep it here at the facility."

Stromboli clenched his fist, not liking the implications of what the council was saying.

"Surely you're not going to just leave this be!" Stromboli shouted, "A find like this deserves all the attention and research it can get!" he shouted at the holograms on the screen. Sadly, Remnant's paleolithic scene wasn't exactly the most prestigious and well-funded of the sciences. And although the Atlesian council spared no expense for the sciences that could increase military and economic strength, others fell by the wayside as the government failed to take an interest and would instead sweep things under the rug by cutting funding.

"What would you suggest we do? This is a lot bigger than just science, Stromboli..."

The things Stromboli had to put up with...

"It's not like you people can't just cover it up like you always do. Keep it from the populace if you must, but do not let this go unattended to. This is an extraordinary find for several scientific fields. Do not discontinue research into this fascinating find! I will personally fund the research myself if you don't want to foot the bill! All I ask is for full use of the facilities."

The council members looked at each other, but Stromboli glared back at them, determined.

"Very well. We will turn over this matter to you as long as the results of your research remain classified information, and the object is not to be removed from the facility. You may work on this research as an independent project separate from the Atlas government with permission to use the labs at Area 61."

Stromboli gave a satisfied grunt.

"For what it's worth, we thought you as one of the lead scientists in the kingdom should at least know about such a find. That's why we called you here, but to think you would take such a vested interest in this is not something we would've expected." one of the council members said.

"Science is always something I have a vested interest in..."

"Indeed. That's all we have for now. We have our own matters to attend to while most of us are gathered here so we'll cut the feed here. Dr. Polendina... Dr. Stromboli..."

Stromboli watch the call end, turning back to the display case with a scowl. Those old fossils were fools after nearly prohibiting the extensive study of such a find. It was because of his money that research into this would get anywhere. Paranoid clowns, only worried about their seats. They believed that announcing and endorsing such a find to the world would cost them the support of the religious population of Atlas.

He turned back to the display case.

"Now, how to start with you..."

* * *

The day was about done, and Qrow Branwen was hunched over his desk like a log. He was too damn hungover to lecture today. Funny, it seemed like that was the case half the time, so as usual he just passed out some worksheets for the kids. Wasn't like they were get much knowledge on becoming a huntsman by sitting in a classroom, but school rules were school rules.

The Branwen grabbed a water bottle sitting in the middle of his desk clutter, downing half of it in an instant in an attempt to clear up his hangover. The chair creaked as he pushed it back, climbing to his feet while his bleary vision began to clear.

Slumped over, the teacher began to shuffle his way to the door, barely looking where he was going as he wanted to make a beeline for the teacher's lounge.

He stalked his way in like a zombie, and collapsing onto the sofa in the middle of the room within seconds. He laid there face down into the denim pillows like a lump, not budging for minutes even as the door creaked open again.

"Oh, for God's sake! It's barely past noon!"

Well, if it wasn't his brother-in-law, come to chastise him yet again for being drunk on the job. He shouldn't have been surprised; it's hardly the earliest Qrow has been passed out in the teacher's lounge piss-ass drunk.

The old crow pulled his face up from the denim, feeling the creaks in his back and shoulders as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. Through bloodshot eyes, he frowned at Taiyang.

"And you're surprised?"

Taiyang pulled up a chair and sighed, sitting on it backwards.

"On the day you're supposed to chat with Ozpin and the gang, yes I am..." he said. Qrow snorted, blowing off his brother-in-law as if showing up drunk in front of his boss was an everyday occurrence.

"What the hell do they want?"

"Hell if I know. _You're_ the one that's part of that group. I'm not privy to whatever they tell you beyond the little bits and pieces that you end up telling me."

Qrow sat up on the sofa.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Probably the latest thing Ironwood's paranoid about that he wants to discuss. They can't just want to talk so I can give my nothing report. Shouldn't be anything important. Anyway, did I tell about what happened to me the other day when I was out in the desert?"

Taiyang crossed his arms across his lap.

"No. What? Something happened in the desert? I thought it was just business as usual? Surely you wouldn't be eager to tell me about something as routine as slaying some Grimm?"

Qrow waved a hand back and forth in front of his midsection.

"No, no. Nothing like that. It was something really interested that I hadn't expected to happen while I was out there. So, I'm staying at the inn, right?" he begins.

Taiyang scoffed.

"Probably more like _drinking_ at the inn."

"Whatever. Anyway, this scrawny little red-headed kid comes in. Can't be anymore than thirteen. I take the piss out of him for a little bit and we end up fighting in the street."

Taiyang snorted.

"You're out fighting little kids in the street now, Qrow?"

"Hey, if this kid was just some regular old kid I wouldn't a bugged him. But this is a weird kid, he's got his weirdo semblance or something. Whatever the hell it is, he uses sand that he keeps in a gourd and blocks attack with a shield of sand that surrounds his entire body. Could be some kind of weird weapon, that gourd, I don't know. The point is that he was a thirteen year old kid using a weird weapon that I've never even remotely seen before and he fought toe-to-toe with a full-fledged huntsman."

That last part was the one that caught Taiyang's interest.

"No kidding. What is he, some kind of child prodigy?"

"The way he fights, it seems so. He sure was a weird kid, though. Don't know what he was doing in some slummy border town near the Transvacuan Desert. He didn't even seem to know what he was doing there; he had no parents or anything. He was just... there."

"Was he lost?"

"Yeah, probably, but like I said he didn't even seem to know what was he lost from. He seemed to want to get to Vale, but for what reason I have no idea. I offered him a spot at the academy to learn to become a huntsman. I left him directions to Patch, so if he wants to attend Signal he'll have to make the trip on his own."

"If this kid really is the child prodigy you think he is, why didn't you make sure he gets here yourself instead of leaving it to chance?"

"Yeah, about that. Turns out I couldn't have stayed in the town after our fight because of... reasons. Not to mention, I didn't exactly get a straight answer from him regarding him attending. He seemed lukewarm to the idea..."

Taiyang groaned.

"Don't tell me... your fight caused some level of damage in the place you were staying and you had to fly away. See, this is why public opinion of huntsmen has been dropping in recent years!"

Qrow opened his mouth to fire back, but was cut off by a rumbling in his pocket. He fished around for a moment and pulled out his mid-sized scroll.

"Guess that's my cue." he said. Taiyang gave a look of understanding, knowing that he wasn't privy to the conversations that Qrow had as part of that secret organization.

Qrow refrained from answering the video call, darting out of the teacher's lounge in a hurry and making his way back to his office. He locked the door behind him and cleared some stuff off his desk, before placing the scroll down and accepting the video call. He slumped himself over his desk and pulled out another flask of booze from within a drawer.

"About time!"

That was the annoyed voice of one Glynda Goodwitch, who could clearly tell the inebriated state of Qrow on one half of the video chat. Ironwood was on the other screen of Ozpin's scroll, clearly situated alone in his office at Atlas Academy.

Qrow also was situated at some kind of desk, probably in his own office at Signal Academy. But unlike the prim and proper Ironwood, Qrow was slumped over his disaster area of a desk, face down in some papers while he made irritated groaning noises.

Ozpin came into the feed for the first time alongside Glynda as he took a drink from his signature coffee mug, not sharing his deputy's reaction save for the slight exasperation behind his eyes for the drunken member of their brotherhood.

"I'm sorry, James. We'll let you take the floor after Qrow gives his report. He knew that we were convening at this date to give our most recent reports..."

"Yeaahhhhh... so I ain't done shit to do with our mission for the past month!" Qrow shouted, limply raising his flask while pulling his head up from his warzone of a desk. Between all the members of Team STRQ, Qrow was the only one still firmly entrenched in whatever Ozpin had planned. He hated sharing similarities with his sister, but even he couldn't give his all into their grand mission all the time.

Glynda almost sneered at the near braggadocios way he said that, as if his slacking was something to be proud of. Even Ozpin looked relatively dumbfounded, as he sighed and folded his hands.

Qrow thought about informing Ozpin of the mysterious kid he had met out in the desert, but decided against it. He would probably do that another time in a conversation where that topic was more relevant, like when they weren't discussing things for their side operation.

"Anyway, unlike Qrow, I've been informed that James has relevant information that he would like to share with all of us." Ozpin continued, giving Ironwood the floor.

Ironwood put his hands down on his own desk.

"Thank you, Ozpin. Now unfortunately, I have no new information regarding the queen. Salem has been inactive as of late, something you would know is her usual state. We don't know where she is or what she's planning beyond what we've already figured out. In brighter news, all four of the maidens are safe as we speak. We know by now that Salem is not aware of any of their locations."

Qrow failed to see how that was bright news; it should have been expected. It was a miracle that the maidens had gone on as unscathed as they have over the generations with the type of people who coveted their power.

"Get it with it, Jimmy. The maidens are safe, blah blah blah. What was this unrelated thing you want to waste all our time about?" Qrow shot, unscrewing his flask and taking a swig from it.

That was the moment when Ironwood would usually lob some half-hearted threat in his direction, but when it didn't happen Qrow was able to see how troubled he truly was.

Instead, Ironwood ignored the remark and continued on.

"Anyway, I feel this is something that you all should know, and maybe pass on to the headmasters of Haven and Shade as well. It's concerning a little incident that happened in our kingdom not too long ago. Are you aware of the volcanic eruption that occurred in our kingdom a few weeks ago?"

Qrow had seen heard about that; it was all over the news. The largest volcanic eruption Atlas had ever seen, wiping out a couple towns in the area via lava flow. Natural disasters... what could you do?

"That wasn't a volcano. There are no active volcanoes anywhere near the region that was hit. The story that was all over the news was merely a cover up to prevent the populace from learning that a singular man was responsible for that. The man in question appears to be able to conjure up lava equivalent to the power from a volcanic eruption, according to several eyewitness accounts from civilians and soldiers who arrived on the scene to apprehend him."

Ozpin and Glynda listened with respectful attention, not stopping to interrupt for any questions. Even Qrow had his interest relatively piqued.

"It was one of the most mysterious events our kingdom has ever seen. It seemed more akin to maiden powers than any semblance that this man might have. A very strange power almost like magic..."

Ozpin twirled around in his swivel chair.

"Maiden powers? How troubling, but there is no conceivable way that maiden powers would be passed on to someone who is not a young female. As of right now, we should assume it is something else. What that something else is, remains a mystery."

"I thought it necessary to inform you, Oz. This man's power is great, a little too great for one human to wield. It would be one thing if this was a group of marauders or even a trained huntsman gone rogue, but power like this is going to attract some characters... There's also the matter of the fact that he's still at large."

"You're saying that this man is going to eventually attract the attention of our enemy. If he isn't involved with them already." Ozpin said the thought that was on Ironwood's mind.

Though they had no evidence of it, it was a sound theory and had a decent chance of happening sometime in the future. Ozpin had experienced his fair share of oddities in his time; one could easily say he _was_ an oddity if they knew his true nature. Remnant was filled with myths and legends, some of which were truer than the general populace gave them credit. Oddities, things that are anomalous to the world of Remnant, that is... always had a way of connecting themselves with either Salem, or Ozpin himself.

If there was something abnormal that Ozpin didn't know about, Salem likely would. What Ironwood had discovered was worth reporting, but until they got more information it was one in the long list of oddities that would be put aside for a rainy day.

"Indeed. I would like to have my army personally investigate this matter, considering the man also appeared and attacked my own nation. Regardless of whether or not he is allied with our enemy, he cannot be allowed to roam free."

"I see no reason not to. While it's troubling to see such power unrestrained in our world, the best I can do is turn things over to you in the hopes that the matter is resolved quickly. In the meantime, we should be pouring more effort into finding intel on our current enemy. Unless we know for sure that this new oddity is connected with them, then we shall put him in the back of our minds for now."

Qrow was uncharacteristically silent during the entire explanation, but while Ozpin and Ironwood were discussing things he was thinking about things. The "volcano" in Atlas was something new, but from the way Ironwood was explaining it made him think back to the boy he had met in the desert. He too seemed to have a mysterious control over some part of the natural environment.

Were they related in any way? Qrow couldn't determine that, and because of that he stayed silent.

* * *

"I remember that symbol now!" one of the faunus proclaimed, "The circus was worrying itself sick into not running into this bandit group. They've been attacking numerous villages recently at a far greater rate than any other bandit group. Six villages wiped off the map in the last month!"

"I've been hearing about this too..." Flidais piped up, "They say that the tribe led by Raven Branwen has taken in someone new. An ace in the hole, if you will..."

The large bandit didn't even seem phased that there were roughly fifty identical blonde kids dotting the town square. But of course, there was no reason for the bandit to be surprised by such a thing.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" he said, in a deep voice, his veil rustling in the wind. The faunus all tilted their heads in confusion, but Naruto froze and stared back at the bandit with intense eyes.

"You know what the Kage Bunshin is?" he asked, confusion, nervousness, and more importantly hope entering his voice. The bandit reached up to his face, ripping the veil of the bandits off only to reveal another, plainer mask hidden underneath.

He didn't answer Naruto's question, but his eyes were searching across the battlefield before taking note of one thing in particular.

"As you can see, the village that stands here is no more..." he gestured with a hand around towards the wanton destruction.

"You did this?" Naruto asked, glaring angrily at the bandit.

"Not I, although it would be dishonest of me to say that I have never participated in something like this. However, my clan led by Raven Branwen is the cause of this handiwork. I hung back until it was time for me to cleanup the Grimm."

He sat back down.

"You came at an unfortunate time, considering I see you have people in need of medical care and food on your back. You won't find any of that here anymore. Therefore..."

It took only a moment. Naruto saw them, but only because he was well-trained enough to be able to see them. The handseals that moved lightning quick, well beyond the speed of anyone but an elite ninja.

Then all of a sudden, fifty faunus had their emaciated flesh melted of of their bones and burned away. There were no screams of agony when this happened; one moment they were there and the next they were nothing but bones. Naruto yelped as did his clones; Arslan screamed in horror, and Flidais merely stood there in shock.

All the remains clattered to the ground as the clones went slack at nearly the same time and let the bones drop from their back in a heap. The many Narutos murmured and yelled at each other incoherently, while the real Naruto felt white-hot rage fry his brain.

He moved to confront and attack the bandit, but Flidais beat him to the punch. So blinded by her rage that she rushed in to attack the man in close range despite only using a ranged weapon.

She pulled her bow apart and into her dual pistols, firing twin blasts of different kinds of dust at the man, who avoided them deftly by weaving around the pellets.

The mountain of a man's fist knocked Flidais as if she were a fly, and she rocketed across the ruined village square before crashing into a wall where only her aura prevented her from being killed.

To her credit, she rose out of the pile of rubble almost immediately, throwing it all around her as she gave a roar of impotent rage. Naruto snapped out of his stupor, glaring over at Arslan who was standing off the side, petrified.

"Get away from him, Arslan! Run and take cover anywhere you can!"

The words seemed to jolt Arlsan into action, the nauseous looking expression fading from her face as she began to run in the opposite direction. Naruto kept stealing glances at her as the adrenaline pumped through her body and carried her to speeds unexpected, but it was clear that the bandit could've killed her at any given time.

Come to think of it, Arslan, Flidais, and himself were all still alive. He had burned those faunus away with a jutsu in damn near an instant; why wasn't he doing the same to them?

The thought that he could was making his skin crawl, but anger and frustration was stomping that feeling down. His clones seemed to feel the same way, as they finally seemed to settle on a singular thought and attacked the man head on.

When they approached though, they could practically feel the sweat burst from their pores over the increased temperature in the air. It was coming from some kind of furnace on the bandit's back.

It only took one ultra-fast punch to dismantle half of his clones. His right arm had been practically glowing with chakra as he did so, the swing so fast even Naruto could hardly comprehend it as his clones burst into smoke one after one from the man's impressive display of Taijutsu.

He used chakra and had a hand-to-hand style that Naruto easily recognized as Taijutsu. That was all the proof Naruto needed. And he thought he was the only one here. What a shame that he had to outright kill nearly everyone under his charge.

And when he was close enough to engage the shinobi turned bandit himself, a fire arrow went between them and forced both of them to dodge. Flidais clearly wouldn't keep her nose out of it, and the bandit looked over at her with something resembling annoyance

"There is no reason for me to fight you, but... I have to get rid of a distraction so we may talk in earnest..."

And there they were again... those same handseals he used, and in the split-second that Naruto saw them his body tensed up completely, before he barely saw him turned his hand towards Flidais.

He didn't like Flidais, but even he couldn't bear to watch her being burned up from the inside out in the way she was. At the same time, there was nothing he could really do to stop it as the flesh was melted off her bones in the same way as the emaciated slaves were. Like they did, her skeleton collapsed onto the ground in a heap of bones as her bow clattered off to the side once it fell from her grasp.

"Flidais!" came the high-pitched scream of Arslan, as Naruto clenched his fists. The man in front of him didn't look apologetic at all, as he just stood there calmly while taking another life.

"Arslan! Get out of here; it's not safe here! It's me he wants; anything that is a distraction is gonna die just like everything else!" he roared at her. Flidais' death had halted her in place, as she stood rooted there with tears welling up in her eyes.

When she just stood there, Naruto screamed louder.

"Do it!" he roared at her, and that was enough to get the waterworks flowing completely as she took off in the opposite direction, bawling her eyes out. When he was certain that she would be safe, Naruto turned back to the bandit, who hadn't moved in the meantime.

"There! No more distractions! You've killed everyone who would be anyway! So, let's talk!" Naruto roared in anger, and although he didn't want to admit it to such a callous killer, maybe talking to him would shed some light. He tried to keep cool in the face of so much death, but this was the most death he had ever seen in his life including his short time as a shinobi.

"Very well. I sensed your presence in the vicinity when you approached, and just had to stay behind in order to meet you. I imagine I arrived in Remnant the same way you did, though it was some months ago. You are the second of our kind I have run into since my arrival, which would be rare enough. I do not know how long you have been awake."

"It... would've been a few weeks ago I woke up in this place."

"I see you're confused, but allow me to clear that confusion by introducing myself. You may call me Han, but you may also call me the Jinchuuriki of the Gobi," he said.

Naruto almost jumped out of his skin. About six months ago, he would've tilted his head in confusion as to what Han was talking about. But, early into his training trip Ero-Sennin had educated him on the nature of what the Kyuubi actually was, and the other beasts that existed out there, along with his classification as a Jinchuuriki and why Akatsuki wanted him so badly.

"Have you gotten into contact with your beast yet? I suppose not; you look too confused for one who does not know the situation at hand..."

Naruto mulled it over. How had this man known about his secret?

"No matter. You're better off hearing it from it rather than me. I don't know which one you hold and how good of a relationship you two had, but it will tell you in due time."

Naruto was still wondering how it was that the man knew about his secret, but being a fellow Jinchuuriki would probably go a long way in explaining away that. Or... there was a more uncomfortable possibility. But before he went any further, he wanted to get one thing off his mind.

"Why... why the hell did you do that?" Naruto accused, knowing damn well Han knew what he was talking about. To his credit, Han didn't even miss a beat when he began explaining it.

"You'd be surprised at what this world does to you... This rat's nest... it really is no better than our old one. We've lived our entire lives under the thumb of some humans who wanted our power. Why should we let this new one do the same? Humans... faunus... it doesn't matter. They can't control us; we're not even obligated to let them live, but those faunus in particular, I was doing a favor. Starvation and disease; they needed to be put out of their misery."

Naruto listened, his discomfort not really lessening. He especially took note of how Han seemed to refer to humans from the outside looking in, like he wasn't one of them. Well, ever since he discovered he was carrying the Kyuubi, it wasn't like he hadn't _thought_ about it.

"You come here with the express purpose of helping people. I know not what village you come from considering you are not wearing your hitai-ate, but it strikes me as Konoha. Self-righteous and self-aggrandizing posturing. Obsessed with doing the right thing, protecting those you care about, and not always seeing the bigger picture or thinking ahead. From the look on your face, you are probably torn up about this. Don't be; judging from the state those faunus were in, they were already dead. This town did not have the medical supplies or the food stock to be able to handle them. They were barely getting by on their own..."

Han realized that he was making Naruto think, and stared at him intently and giving him the space and time to do so.

If there was no help... then that meant... the Clover Troupe was the only place within reasonable distance to be able to support those faunus, even in their own fucked up version of care. Taking them out of that environment was basically a death sentence.

Naruto felt a knot in his stomach after processing that information. Klaver had offhandedly mentioned it, and here was this guy confirming it. Sure, he had been the one who killed them and it still made Naruto want to run him through, but in all his rage, he felt doubt.

It was the first time trying to help someone had backfired so spectacularly.

"W-What?" Naruto croaked out. It was all he could say, getting overwhelmed by all the information that was coming his way.

"If you want to pursue getting home, I would suggest heading to the Kingdom of Mistral. If you've been here a few weeks, you should know what that is by now. You are clearly traveling somewhere with a destination in mind. And know that you are not alone... Talk to your Bijuu for more information regarding that, but there is another in Mistral who has more faith than I do regarding our chances to get home. It's the best chance we have, but until they make progress, I will not involve myself in those affairs." he said cryptically.

And with that, Han prepared to leave, leaving Naruto numb and in a daze.

"Oh, and one more thing..." Han said, turning back to Naruto one last time to witness the boy with his mouth hanging open, "You may start experiencing some strange dreams soon. I don't know for sure, but I definitely did. They are like a window into another's life, but just little snippets that I cannot find the meaning to. Anyway, I've done my part in passing on the relevant information to a fellow Jinchuuriki. You will be on your own from this point on, until our paths cross again."

Han disappeared in a Shunshin.

Naruto vaguely registered that he was supposed to be irate at the Gobi Jinchuuriki, but that was after Han had already disappeared. He gave him information he didn't know, but was cryptic about it in parts. He was another Jinchuuriki, but he was traveling with bandits and had killed people Naruto swore to take care of.

Naruto didn't know what to do, besides be wary of Han.

* * *

And we're done here.

If you're a geek like me, you probably notice that difference in geological and evolutionary time scale. That's on purpose; I didn't use our own geological and evolutionary history for Remnant, but rather gave it its own. There's also the matter of the whole two God brothers thing, but the mythology of the world and how it relates to its past will be explained later.

As for Han, if you're wondering a few things about him, don't worry. He's with the bandits because they're the first ones he got into contact with in Remnant and decided to stay with them. I've always struggled to get a handle on Han's personality. Going off of what Deidara said, we can deduce that Han was one of the Jinchuuriki who hated people, but... that's sorta contradicted later on... maybe? We don't really know enough about him to get a clear picture. Regardless, here he has no lost love for his new lot in life or toward the world of Remnant.

I feel like I'm going to get these reviews later, so I'll break it down here. He's a living example of the fact that the Jinchuuriki aren't necessarily united or will be completely united. If you think this is a story where the Jinchuuriki band together and kick loads of ass, get it out of your head now. They all have their own motives (not to say that they don't align sometimes). Han is essentially Naruto's enemy for the time being.

That's all for now,

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	12. Tremaine Fall

And here we go.

At this point, we're still kinda at the point where Naruto's branch will be getting more focus that Gaara's. Let me put it this way, what's going on right now is all culmination that leads up to a certain point. To get to that point, Naruto's path has more stuff he needs to do than Gaara's.

* * *

Chapter 12: Tremaine Fall

Things were downtrodden at the campfire that night, with just the two of them. Arslan just sat there, on the other side of Naruto, sniffling every few minutes with her head in her hands. They were camped out outside the ruined village, its crumbling walls a stark reminder in the background of what had just transpired.

Naruto hardly looked well either, like a piece of himself was gone. All the faunus in his custody were dead; those he had personally freed and promised that he would get food and medical attention for. And there was nothing he could do about it. He had always said he would never go back on his word, so what now? He had let them all die; did that mean his entire worldview was a farce, at least in this instance?

He stared at the licking flames forlornly, occasionally stoking it or stealing a glance up at Arslan. At least above all else, he had managed to keep her alive, but she was looking worse for wear. Naruto supposed that she really did care about Flidais despite everything.

Just... going through that town left him with so much to think about. The campsite was looking lonely with just him and Arslan, with no other bodies strewn out all over the place. He could despair about the dead faunus, and also contemplate what Han had told him. But he supposed he had more reason than ever to head to Mistral than ever before, more than getting Neptune enrolled in a school and getting Arslan to safety.

If only Han had told him who this other person he was supposed to be looking for was. He assumed that they were a Jinchuuriki whoever they were, judging by Han's cryptic words about the subject.

Only thing to do now was rendezvous with Neptune, and they couldn't be out here too long lest they attract too many Grimm. But... Naruto supposed he could allow Arslan a little more time to rest.

He scooted up next to the slightly younger girl.

"Hey, everything alright?"

What was he saying; of course it wasn't. But Arslan seemed to catch his drift and raised her head up to show him a tear-stained face. She sniffled loudly and nodded at him.

A walking Grimm magnet and a girl overcome by negative emotions. He wondered how long it would be before they were attacked again. Being out here had been an exercise in danger ever since he had arrived. Why hadn't he tried to get behind the kingdom's walls sooner?

"F-Flidais..." she wailed, and Naruto wrapped an arm around her and pulled the girl into a hug. He stroked the blonde mane that was her hair, shushing her. She had lost so much recently; it must've felt like her entire world was crashing down, which in a sense it was.

He let her cry into his shoulder for a moment, her sense of dignity lost when she was able to shield her face within the fabric. The low, muffled sobbing and the crackling fire were the only sounds in the swampy forest, but after a few minutes of crying Arslan pulled away surprisingly abruptly.

"No more!" she roared, as angry as she was depressed. It came out as a cross between a wail and a croak, like her entire burden of the last few days had been entirely too much to bear, and she lashed out.

"I watched my village get destroyed, my father die, and now that... _horrible_ display back there. And I wasn't able to do _anything_ but stand there, cry, or run like a scared child!"

Naruto stood there stunned as Arslan shouted, and stiffened when she grabbed a handful of his shirt in her tanned hands and yanked him forward in a surprising display of strength.

"Naruto, take me to Mistral! You said you're going to help Neptune enroll in an academy; help me too! I don't want to just be standing around losing everything I love anymore! Swear to me! Swear to me that you'll take me to Mistral, and help me make a difference!"

She didn't outright say it, but there was something vague in her tone of voice. It wasn't hate, not even close to that emotion, but more like... resentment. Did Arslan resent him? All this had happened only because he had popped up in her life.

"I swear... I'll take you to Mistral."

What else could he do? It was the best he could do to make things right? She must've been thinking about this in the meantime; she didn't have much left in this world. Here she was, trying to give herself a sense of purpose.

It would go against everything Naruto believed in to not encourage that.

Arslan went to bed that night as satisfied as one could be in her situation, but Naruto lay awake for half the night looking out for Grimm while at the same time thinking about the situation.

He sat up in his sleeping bag in the middle of the night, looking at the form of the sleeping Arslan illuminated only by the embers of the dead fire. He pulled himself out of the bag and crept away from the campsite, but not before grabbing his weapons pouch and sneaking off into the woods.

It was quiet, almost dead quiet on the foggy night. He could even hear the metal of the kunai jingle in his pouch, but as he sat down in the middle of the forest floor, he opened the pouch and pulled out something else that was contained within.

It was Otto van Klaver's scroll, which he had been fiddling with the last few days in order to figure out how it worked. He had made quite a bit of headway with the technology, but the only reason he was keeping this was for one specific reason.

He was still getting calls from that Fall woman, and had been mulling over whether or not he should call her back. He would've probably left it alone by now, if not for one thing. The woman had left a voicemail intended for Klaver, and with it he had gleaned a bunch of information.

She was the Clover Troupe's sponsor, a powerful woman who belonged to one of the noble families in Mistral. The way she talked in the voicemail indicated that she was a big fan of circus entertainment, and as such she was the reason the Clover Troupe was able to get off the ground so successfully. Was she aware of van Klaver's more shady dealings? He didn't know, but as nobility he wouldn't put it past her.

But more importantly, she was a rich and elite socialite. If she was a rich and elite socialite, then perhaps she had access to the inner workings of the things that made the kingdom run, including the academies.

Maybe he could sell her on the idea of two potential young huntsmen. If getting into an academy was often about who you know as Neptune said it was, this could be their ticket in.

His fingers were already working their way across the dialpad, punching in the numbers necessary in order to contact the woman. He put the device to his ear in the way he had seen Klaver do, listening to the ring on the other end.

It rang, and rang, and rang, but no one picked up. It must've been too late in the night.

"God dammit..." Naruto muttered to himself, putting the scroll down and closing it. What was he doing?

"Can't you see? You're just trying to make up for your own fuck ups..."

Naruto jolted up, but there was no one there. His ninja senses indicated that there was no one trying to sneak up on him, or that any human was in the vicinity. As he looked up, he realized that the voice was coming from his own mind. Not Kyuubi, just one of those little voices of guilt that pop up in the times like this. As he looked at the bark of the tree he was standing next to, an imaginary face popped into existence.

"That's not true..." he said.

"Is it? Do you honestly think you can play the hero this time? You can get those two into schools; what's that going to do? You're the reason that girl has no home and family. All those people are dead because you couldn't do anything. Some hero you are..." the tree mocked.

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted angrily, fists clenched before he realized he was shouting at nothing. It was just a tree in front of him, no human face attached to it and it certainly did not talk.

"Do you honestly think you can play the hero this time? This world isn't meant for you, and you aren't meant for this world. Try as you might, you'll always be a freak in a strange land. You think back home it was bad trying to get acceptance. You'll _never_ get it in this place."

Now the voice was just coming from inside his head.

Han had left more of a mark than just telling him information about their situation. Han had been the one who had killed all of those faunus, not him. But... was what he said about them true. That deduction that he had made... was it logical? The way he spoke, Han hadn't made a connection with this new world at all.

No matter how much he tried to justify himself in his head, something wrung hollow after hearing that from Han. The way he wanted to live his life as a ninja was to use his power to help those in need who couldn't help themselves, and if possible find a way for them to become stronger on their own as well.

The idea that his power wasn't enough... or that his carelessness had actively hurt someone was maddening to him. He thumped his head against the tree bark, that coupled with what Han represented... could he become like him? He wanted to get home so badly, and he had never truly felt he was resonating with this place. The thought of living here forever was frightening.

It was also the first time an event like that had happened because of his recklessness; perhaps it was time to dial back on it and think about the situation before acting? Look underneath the underneath and all that. He wasn't sure that was exactly the way Kakashi had meant it.

Would there be situations where no matter what he did, he wouldn't be able to help? He hoped not.

* * *

Gaara placed another glass on the rack to dry.

It was his third day working in Junior's bar, a big step down compared to his previous employment as a shinobi. But the Shukaku Jinchuuriki did it all without complaining, always remaining out of the line of sight from Junior and doing his job in silence. As he grew more accustomed to the place and vice-versa, the henchmen he interacted with began to find him strange.

It was a thankless job, but he was waiting for the day Junior told him he could start asking for information. Which hadn't come yet, but Gaara was about to get a boon when Junior called him out to the bar one slow night.

"Gaara, get your ass out here. I need you."

Gaara didn't so much as blink at the snappy order and went out onto the bar floor to meet with his boss. He pushed open the "Employees Only" door, listening to it creak on its hinge before being assaulted by the neon lights of the dance floor.

Junior beckoned him over to the behind the bar counter, but before Gaara got there he noticed that Junior was speaking to someone. It was a young man; he could've been anywhere from twenty-one to twenty-four. He was dressed in a snappy white suit and black bowler hat in which his neon orange hair stuck out in a fringe. He was twirling a cane around on his fingers, clacking his boots while regarding Junior with a cocky smirk.

"Pretty expensive duds for a kid like you. Didn't know a common thug like you was able to afford them. Thought you were in jail again anyway, Torchwick." Junior snarked.

"Gotta look the part, you know." Torchwick said, his voice betraying the absolute look of confidence to indicate that he was anything but.

"Yeah, but a couple of months ago you _didn't_ look the part. So, you go from some punk with a gun and a ski mask to a fag all within the span of a couple months. Did you drop the soap one too many times and change teams or something?" Junior quiped without missing a beat, and those henchmen who heard him gave a few mocking chuckles.

Torchwick scowled.

"Believe what you what, Hei Xiong..." he said in a voice that belayed his anger. It was pretty obvious to Gaara as he approached that the blows to Torchwick's pride were effective, "but I'll be running this town some day. Mark my words..." he finished.

According to Gaara, this man was desperate to prove himself and did not like not being taken seriously.

Junior seemed unconvinced.

"Of course you will. So what do you want?"

"I want to hire your men..."

Now Junior was all business.

"You know you have to have the cash in order to do that..." he said, still skeptical about Roman's ambition. He had one psychopath under his employ last he heard, very strong but still ultimately one person. A criminal empire with wealth and connections he did not have.

Roman didn't say anything, but just kept the same old shit-eating grin.

"Don't waste my time, kid. Whatever it is you're trying to pull, shouldn't you and that little psychopath of yours be enough for the job? Come back to hire my men when you got the money..."

"Junior, Junior, Junior. Is that how you treat an old family friend? Your father got me started in this business, and I wouldn't be where I am today without him. Now I'm just here, asking his son for a little bit of aid. Is that too much to ask."

Junior looked around.

"Fine. You can take him. No charge, and bring him back in one piece!" he remarked, pointing at Gaara who didn't so much as react.

Roman dampened significantly, his facade crumbling slightly.

"Really, Junior? You wanna spring some funny-dressed kid on me and call it help?

"It's the best I can offer right now. Take it or leave it. My boys work hard enough around here as is, and many of them want to break out into a legitimate business venture. I can't ask them to do your dirty work for you without the proper reimbursement..."

Roman Torchwick scowled.

" _Fine_. But don't think you're hot shit like your father. You've grown soft, Junior. Xiong Sr. would've never done what you're doing today..."

Torchwick turned to Gaara for the first time.

"Alright, kid. Your boss decided that your going to be thrown into the fire by yourself. Just follow me and try not to get in the way. We've got a really important job we need to be doing."

Gaara didn't particularly care either way; it was unlikely that whatever this common thug wanted doing wasn't going to be the hardest mission he had ever undertaken. He turned to Junior though, as if questioning his line of reasoning.

Junior signed and slicked back his hair.

"Just go with Roman, kid. I don't know what he wants you to do, but if you're as capable as you claim to be then it shouldn't be much of a problem. Just watch your back; he can be... difficult. So difficult that you getting him out of my hair for a while will earn you a fast track to a pay raise and the information you want."

Gaara stared at his boss before giving a curt nod, even as Roman twirled his cane and barked at him to follow him. He felt a flare of annoyance as the flamboyant man did so; he could see why Junior found dealing with him difficult. But he began to follow anyway as Roman exited the bar with Gaara in tow.

Roman practically shoved the double doors to the club open as the two of them exited into the streets of Vale. When the doors shut behind them and the music was drowned out, Roman turned to address Gaara.

"Okay, listen kid. I came to Junior since I thought he would help me in my biggest hour of need, but I guess I was wrong. I don't have the money or the power to pull a job like this off, but because of reasons I have to do it anyway. Because I'm nothing without my assistant. That's why even if it's just going to be us, we're going to go rob a dust store..."

"Why would you need to rob a dust store?"

Roman tutted.

"I guess I'm going to bring you along for the raid so you'd need to know that. See, I'm on the low end of the totem pole as a criminal in this town. I only started branching out on my own in about the last year. I have hardly any money, few followers, no syndicate, etc. What I do have going for me is my assistant, Neo. Her abilities have been a boon more often than not, and have allowed me to escape some nasty predicaments. When I become big in this town, Neo will have surely played a huge part in that. Problem is, she's been captured when we were doing one of our rounds the other day. We must've been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Neo were just captured by the local law enforcement then this wouldn't be nearly the problem it actually is..."

"What do you mean?"

"We were robbing a place when we ran into this girl who was part of one of the biggest noble families in Vale. There's a whole bunch of daughters; they're rather infamous for their combat ability. She wasn't turned into local law enforcement; she's no doubt being held within their manor as this family has the political power to arrest and essentially try anyone they please as long as they get the approval of Vale's government."

"So, it's essentially a rescue mission. Why do you feel the need to rob a dust store if that's the case?"

Roman looked at him blankly.

"Well, my initial plan was to just load up on all the dust I can, and rush in their guns blazing to take back my partner."

"How strong is this enemy? You called them one of the biggest noble families infamous for their combat ability. If this is a rescue mission, then using such force would be wasteful at best and suicidal at worst..."

Roman scowled and lurched forward, grabbing Gaara's collar. Surprisingly, the Suna no Tate did not spring into action.

"It's all I've got! What would you suggest I do? Huh? I came here to get some men, and instead all I ended up with was some punk kid. The least you can do is not give me lip and just follow my damn orders!"

Gaara batted his hand away and glared at him, the cork on his gourd subconsciously loosening.

"Listen, you imbecile. I am only doing this because it is convenient for me; I don't care about your assistant and I certainly don't care about your crime career. Your plan is reckless, idiotic, and horribly thought through. We can rob these dust stores and assault this place, but you are the only one who is going to die."

That seemed to do it for Roman, who hoisted Melodic Cudgel up and pointed the the barrel point-blank right in Gaara's face.

"And just who do you think you are giving _me_ orders, you little brat?"

* * *

 _The grass tickled the back of his neck, but he didn't feel like moving to correct the problem._

 _He was staring up at the night sky in the middle of a field. For some reason, it didn't entirely feel like his body, nor his mind. It was almost like he was reliving an experience of another person, except not in control of his actions or able to change it._

 _It was hard to explain. It was more than just looking through a window into their life. He was this person, but he was not at the same time. He felt a certain connection to them, but he didn't understand why he was in a grassy field staring up at the night sky._

 _"The night sky is great here. It has all the same constellations as back home_."

Naruto's eyes weakly fluttered open to to witness the misty morning. He tasted the swampy morning air as he opened his mouth, only to realize he was laying in the grass, but he wasn't looking at stars and was tucked in his sleeping bag.

He was cut off from his thoughts by a rumbling noise that vibrated in his pocket. Naruto gave a short growl of annoyance; it was that damn device that he nicked from Klaver again. Probably from that Fall woman; they were going to play phone tag at this rate, but in the wake of his little episode last night he almost forgot he had called her.

He had been sleeping with one eye open anyway, but managed to dream anyway. Strange dreams... hadn't Han said something about that? There weren't any Grimm attacks during the night, which was a first. He wouldn't count his blessings though; they'd probably be swarming on him at some point again soon. That was getting to be a huge pain in the ass. Apparently all the kingdoms had walls that kept Grimm out. There was another benefit that traveling to Mistral would bring.

He turned, sitting himself up and stretching before noticing that Arslan was sitting up in her own sleeping bag wide awake next to her place by the dead fire. She had been pensive ever since their talk last night, and after he agreed to bring her to Mistral alongside Neptune. At least she didn't seem completely depressed anymore, but Naruto knew better to assume she had even remotely gotten over all that had happened recently.

"Ready to meet up with Neptune?" Naruto asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah... I guess I am." she said. It must've been hard for her to get excited; they were still a ways away from Mistral, but getting Neptune from the next village over was their first priority.

Arslan did seem a lot quieter though, and much more reserved. They packed up their things and cleaned up their campsite in silence. Naruto wanted to start up conversation but fell silent every time Arslan looked at him. And to be honest, every time he looked at her it stirred forth something, bad emotions that he would rather suppress for the time being.

The journey was also silent. Grimm attacked as usual as they got moving, putting an end to their little bit of peace the previous night, but Arslan seemed particularly uninterested in talking that morning as they took a detour away from the ruined village they had entered. They were headed down the southeast trail toward the village of Shina, and when they got there thankfully it hadn't been attacked by a group of wandering marauders.

As far as villages existing between kingdoms, Shina was fairly nice. Unlike Catalhoyuk, the people in the village seemed to be fairly well-to-do, the buildings actually had sound architectural structure. Basically, the village didn't look like a dump built into a hole that was ready to keel over at any given time.

There was only one inn in the town though, which made it easy to spot where Neptune was staying. They walked into the establishment and asked the innkeeper at the bar if a boy with blue hair was staying there.

Someone like Neptune must've been hard to forget, so the innkeeper pointed out that he was and gave him the room number. The trip to Shina was a lot less eventful, but they decided to stay one more night in the village before heading out on the road the next day.

The circus _did_ pay Neptune a steady wage despite everything else, so that was the reason he was able to comfortably stay at the inn. But he didn't know if he had enough in savings to make the trip to Mistral completely, let alone what they would do when they got there.

When Neptune had told them that, Naruto knew what needed to be done. As Arslan and Neptune exited the room they were staying in and went downstairs to order something to eat, Naruto whipped out the scroll yet again and dialed the number.

Naruto again took a deep breath as it rang, and an even deeper one when there came a click from the other side.

"Hello?" said a kind, matronly voice. Naruto didn't speak at first, finally speaking to the woman who had been such a mystery to him with the Klaver affair. When he didn't say anything, Tremaine continued on.

"Oh! Oh Otto, it's you! I've been trying to get a hold of you! Where have you been, good sir!"

Naruto began to think things over. As much as he wanted to just expose Klaver's crimes to the world, he wondered if this woman would take that well, even if she did sound very kindly. _Did_ she have the wool pulled over her eyes? Even if she did, he couldn't exactly prove anything over the phone.

"Excuse me, is this Lady Tremaine Fall?" he asked in a pleasant voice, trying as hard as he could to put on a pleasant facade.

"Who is this? What have you done with Otto?!" she asked, and to Naruto's bewilderment her voice sounded more scared than angry. Naruto gave a fake cnuckle, almost unbelieving of what he was about to say.

"Oh, I'm just a humble employee borrowing his scroll. He let me use his personally to talk to you. He's a great boss; he cares so much about his employees that he let me do this when I told him my problems."

The other line was silent, though Naruto seemed to have gotten her attention.

"I see. That would fit the description of what Otto is like. But I struggle to understand what problem you have that you could be solved by talking to me?"

"Me, my friend, this girl we picked up from a neighboring village have been working at the circus. We're all orphans, we have no place to go. Klaver offered us employee and a place to stay, but we're just kids. My friend in particular has a dream to attend huntsmen school, and so does the girl. Me, I could go either way... Our boss seems to understand that we'll have to leave this place eventually, and he figured that you were the best person to talk to about that."

The other line fell silent again, but this time it seemed to be in contemplative thought.

"Well, it is true that I personally know Professor Lionheart, as well as Professor Liddell at Sanctum Academy. But to be accepted into Sanctum, one would have to be young enough and display some combat aptitude. I've sponsored students there before, but I've absolutely refused to throw children who are not prepared into that lifestyle. The entrance exams are in several months.; if you can make your way to Mistral and apply directly, I can judge your combat abilities in person and recommend you for the entrance exams if you pass my own personal test. I see several prospective students a year."

Naruto felt his cheeks break out in a smile, this time genuine.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"No problem, sweetie! And if you could tell Otto to answer his scroll sometimes, that would be wonderful!"

"Uh... he's not here right now, if you've noticed. I'll give him that message for you. Bye!" Naruto shouted, quick to hang up the scroll before Tremaine could get another word in. Now that he knew she saw many students a year and sponsored some, he was less concerned about culling favor with her through Klaver.

He put the scroll down and back into his pocket, staring out the window in their room. He was grinning; he couldn't wait to tell Neptune and Arslan the good news. He doubted they could use Klaver's name anymore, but at least they knew now that there was someone that any kid could directly go to.

The door to their room opened again sometime later and in walked both Arslan and Neptune, casually chatting to one another. They jumped when he rushed up to them with a megawatt grin, placing his hands around each of their shoulders.

"Good news!" he said heartily, clapping them both on the back. Arslan and Neptune looked at each other in confusion, though it didn't diminish Naruto's smile in the slightest.

"Uh, what are you so excited about? We're nowhere near Mistral..." Neptune asked. Naruto produced the scroll he had been talking to Lady Fall with out of his pocket, showing it to the other two kids.

"Just got off a call with someone on this," he started explaining, pointing to his scroll, "Real big wig in Mistral who has a lot of connections. Said she would give the two of you a shot, and if you impress she would pull some strings to get you inside that academy."

Neptune and Arslan looked at each other, smiles splitting onto their faces while they quiet gasps of excitement. Naruto let go of the two of them, walking over to the bed and grabbed his backpack.

"Welp, no time to waste! We've rested and eaten, and the chick who is expecting you will probably want to see you sooner or later! We better keep going, before something else happens..." he said, as he hoisted the backpack over his pack.

The other two kids gave enthusiastic nods, before the two of them began scrambling to pick up their own items. As they did so, an article of clothing fell out of Neptune's pack.

Naruto blinked, noting the rich red leather the material seemed to be made out of. It looked expensive.

"Neptune, where did you get that?"

"Oh, that? I bought it at one of the shops here in town when I was waiting for the two of you to come..." he said, while picking it up and dusting it off.

"It looks expensive..." Naruto said.

"Well, like I said, it wasn't like Klaver didn't pay us well while in the circus. Money wise, I was definitely more well off than I was living on the street just scraping up enough to get by. If I'm gonna go become a huntsman, I have an image to upkeep. I'm never gonna go back to the life I lived before, ever. When people see me at Sanctum and later Haven, they're gonna see a cool guy, not one that grew up a street rat."

Naruto pondered that for a moment. It sounded similar to what he did while in the academy, that is pull pranks for attention. Once he found friends, he was able to show his real self and leave much of that behind.

Perhaps Neptune would be able to do the same, but Naruto didn't say anything about it for now.

"You coming, Naruto?" Arslan asked, apparently having grabbed her own stuff while Naruto was lost in thought. That was another thing; there was the matter that in some way, Arslan seemed to resent him.

A lot had happened; they couldn't be expected to come free completely intact mentally. Neptune seemed desensitized to the whole thing from years of hardship growing up, and Arslan had retreated inward to become more reserved, but it was very obvious she was no longer emotionally stable.

The three kids left the Inn and got on the road again, thoughts swimming in Naruto's mind. Neptune's mindset over all this was an issue, but not necessarily a groundbreaking one.

Arslan however, he hoped that her resentment did not fester, because he didn't know what else he could do to make things right.

* * *

And we're done here.

Junior has shown up, so you could only imagine that Torchwick eventually would as well. He's a bit different here though. He hasn't become the criminal legend he is at the start of the story yet. I imagine the younger Torchwick as a bit angrier and more impulsive. Not quite yet the villain who will cheat, lie, steal, and survive. We might see that beginning to take root though.

That's all for now,

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	13. Infiltrating Arc Manor

And here we go...

Just so you know, if you've read my other story involving RWBY, then you'd probably be able to figure out that I'm using the same characters for Jaune's family. But for those who haven't, this will be your first time being introduced to them, so I'll make sure I don't assume you know who they are.

* * *

Chapter 13: Infiltrating Arc Manor

Some excess sand fell off of Gaara's sand shield, which was currently raised up and active, having blocked several shots from the dust rifle hidden in Roman's cane.

Both fighters were unscathed, Roman failing to put a dent in Gaara and Gaara refusing to attack back. He doubted Junior would've actually minded, but he was supposed to be doing a job for the criminal.

Roman's face was twisted in anger, but the grip on his weapon was getting increasingly less firm as it threatened to clatter from his grip and his body language gave off the impression that he was worried.

"What the hell is this?" he asked, no doubt referring to the sand that surrounded Gaara's body and protected him from all harm. Gaara even had the gall to sit down all while Roman continued to do his damnest to try and break through the sand barrier. Eventually he began whacking his cane against the sand shield repeatedly, as he gave grunts of exertion hitting it over and over again like some kind of angry wind up doll.

Gaara would give Torchwick one thing; he at least had the stamina when compared to the other low-level thugs and civilians Gaara had seen throughout his life, but nothing Torchwick could do would penetrate his barrier.

"Are you done?"

Roman dropped his cane, his limited human stamina apparently finally kicking in.

"You are a mess. I've seen your type of criminal back home; we call them _sanzoku_. They are low intelligence, brutish, use force to get what they want and never think more than one step ahead. It's why they are considered more a nuisance than an actual threat as far as my nation's military goes, at least. Your assistant must be as good as you claim her to be; I don't understand how you haven't been arrested or killed when you're not working for someone else that's willing to give you orders."

That seemed to get yet another rise out of Roman, who clenched his cane and gave it one final crack against Gaara's head, which the shield always on cue managed to block.

"Exactly my point. Let me explain something to you since your idiotic brain is failing to comprehend this basic fact..." Gaara began, "This is a rescue mission. There is no need to go to the lengths that you're proposing; if you or anyone you hire has any skill in infiltration, subterfuge, and stealth, then it should be possible to achieve this mission without the use of blunt force. An excessive amount of dust is unnecessary..."

When he said this, Gaara could finally see the gears begin to turn in Roman's head, and his arm slumped as he dropped his cane back into its initial, resting position.

"If we go it this way, it will be far less risk and work. You wouldn't need any more men or dust. But we would have to avoid fighting and remain undetected during the entire process."

The tone Gaara was taking brooked no argument, and the resistance was starting to drain from Roman. How had he gone from the one who was hiring Junior to having his terms dictated to him?

"My assistant... is my everything!" Roman placed a hand over his chest, "This better work. You _better_ know what you're talking about, and we _better_ be able to recover her!"

Roman put his weapon away and dusted off his clothes in a vain attempt to look as sharp-dressed as he usually was. They couldn't afford to waste any time bickering.

"We can go straight to the source this way. Tell me everything you know about the individuals who captured your assistant..."

"Of all the people that could've captured Neo, it had to be _them_. Every criminal in Vale knows their names. They are the bogeymen of the criminal underworld, or bogeywomen I should say. They are the tale that the mob boss would tell his precious little daughter when she goes to sleep at night to keep her from misbehaving."

"Very well. It seems they have quite the status in this country. Tell me more about certain individuals in the family. What would they want with your assistant and where would they even be keeping her?"

Roman's mouth opened, but no words came out as the thought died on his lips. He seemed almost uncomfortable with the idea and the question that Gaara was asking him.

"Well, it's probably like this..."

* * *

The town of Rouen in Vale was relatively backwoods, not existing outside the kingdom but not too far inside its walls with not a lot surrounding it. It was known for only one thing: the old noble family that had its manor located just outside the village.

The Arc family was one of the oldest and most renowned families in Vale. Said renown came from the fact that no one in the kingdom's history had put more criminals behind bars. Or in graves, for that matter. Some would say that the Arcs got a little bit too zealous in their happenings. Their dogma was what they became known for above all else, similar to the Winchesters' racism.

That only applied to the females of the family, however. The Arc family was matrilineal, head of house being passed on from mother to daughter. Daughters were trained to become knights in the service of Vale. Sons were not allowed to have any knowledge of family techniques passed to them, and were forbidden to even study combat until they came of age in which they could forge their own path.

The current iteration of the Arc family was already strong, with plenty more untapped potential. The current matriarch was in the process of molding her seven daughters into becoming strong warriors. There was even rumors in the village of one Arc brother existing in the midst of all the females, though with family rules he likely wasn't allowed to participate anyway.

The manor was quiet that night, with the groundskeepers already turning in for the night and leaving the grounds unattended to. When it came to the manor itself, the windows were dark and the house was still.

A bush near the edge of their property rustled slightly, unnoticed by all as Torchwick's head poked out of the underbrush and he surveyed the land with a smug smirk on his face.

"Get down..." Gaara droned, sighing at the fact that Roman would expose himself so easily and early. He was dressed too flamboyantly for this type of mission regardless.

"Third Eye..."

"What are you doing?"

"Silence. Let me concentrate..." Gaara said as he covered his left eye and closed his right. Somewhere outside their vantage point and much closer to the manor itself, the eye of sand conjured itself up, floating as high as the second floor of the Arc manor.

The disembodied eye moved along with the low breeze, strafing up and down as it peered into every window it could, trying to catch a glimpse of what things were like for the interior of the manor.

The house was dark in every room, understandable considering how late at night it actually was. The most that his third eye could see was silhouettes in the various rooms that it traveled by, but on the far side of the mansion, there was a cellar door.

Gaara's face molded into a taut frown, having gained very little information by creating the third eye and sending it out first. He dispelled the jutsu and opened his real eyes yet again.

"I can't see anything inside. The whole manor has its lights out, so it looks like we'll have to infiltrate the hard way. Are you aware of any extra security measures this family may have set up?"

Roman scoffed.

"There's no way I would know anything about that, but one of their daughters has probably rigged something or other around the property. They might even know we're here already."

"If what you say is true about your assistant, then this manor probably has holding cells or a dungeon of sorts where individuals can be held in captivity. That type of place they probably want to keep away from their surface activities at best and completely away from the public eye at worst, even if you do claim they have permission from the Vale government to perform such actions."

"My estimated guess that these type of activities are performed in a basement type area, underneath the property. It is away from the public eye and also provides enough space. The only issue now would be finding this theoretical bunker."

Gaara poked his head out of the bushes, the cork on his gourd popping off. Sand began to gather around his feet, forming a sort of platform that he could use to practically levitate.

Roman looked at it, his lips pursed as if he had eaten a lemon. He seemed to be deciding on whether or not he should comment on that, but having already seen Gaara's shield decided against it.

"Hold on, let me get on!" Roman said, seeming to figure out what Gaara's plan to use the platform was for. He scrambled onto the sand platform clumsily, Gaara looking on him with disapproval.

"This would be a lot easier if you stayed here and let me do the work..." Gaara said, Roman's very technical status as his current employer the only thing preventing him from straight up booting him off his ride.

"No! If we're going to rescue Neo, I'm going to be there for it!" the career criminal yelled back at Gaara. Sighing, Gaara commanded the sand to move them through the air, getting closer and closer to the mansion.

" _He's going to get us caught..._ " Gaara thought to himself, thinking about how once they got in there was no way the boisterous criminal was going to able to keep himself from being detected.

Gaara brought them to the ground near their destination; that cellar door he had picked up with his Third Eye. The excess sand pooled by Roman and Gaara's feet as he dispelled the jutsu, the sand flowing back into his gourd as the Jinchuuriki approached the cellar door.

"Ah ha! A cellar!"

Gaara rolled his eyes at Roman; was he going to point out the obvious this entire mission?

Gaara pulled the handle, unsurprised when the double doors failed to budge. Not deterred, Gaara willed some more sand to flow from his gourd, speaking to Roman as he did so.

"This girl... this Rouge, she is the one who you believe has the custody of your assistant?" he asked, starting up a conversation to get Roman to casually reveal more information.

"Yeah, probably. That girl is only nine years old, and she's already one of the top scientific geniuses in the kingdom. The horror stories from the underworld we can tell you about that one. She's never at the front line, but she's often the final destination for all the career criminals her sisters take capture. If she needs a subject, the government provides in the form of captured criminals."

Gaara began to gather the sand around the wood of the cellar door, working it between the cracks and crushing and eroding the material until a good sized hole had formed in the door.

He reached a hand through the hole and unlocked it from the other side, swinging the cellar doors open as Torchwick jumped back. The abyss beckoned them inside, but the darkness was palpable, so pitch-black neither of them could see a thing into the basement.

Gaara descended into the darkness without a second thought, but Roman was a bit more tentative as he hunched over, insecure about himself as he followed Gaara into the basement.

Gaara brushed up against something wooden in the darkness as his eyes began to adjust. He placed a hand on the old wood, feeling the texture before it realized it appeared to be a wine barrel.

"We seem to have found their wine cellar, but the bigger question does this cellar actually lead to the house?" Gaara asked. As if to answer his question, Torchwick's adjusting eyes were trained on an old wooden staircase of sorts that lead up.

"Well, would you look at that? They left their cellar so easily penetrable, and it leads right up to their house. I wonder how this family has survived so long; they must have a number of people that want to take them out!" Roman chuckled, walking up the staircase to the wooden door at the end.

Gaara was just about to stop him from opening the door, but Roman had already turned the handle by the time he did so. The door creaked open, but Roman didn't notice the infrared sensor beam directly at his feet.

He didn't even need to take a step to trigger it however, because as soon as the wood from the door passed over it, a blaring alarm sounded from speakers placed elsewhere in the house.

Roman yelped in surprise from the sudden noise, his cane flying from his hands as he lost his grip on it. His right foot pivoted backwards, meeting nothing but air as his misplaced footing made the young criminal fall painfully down the wooden steps.

All the while, the alarms continued to blare for a few more seconds before they went silent. But that was hardly of any comfort to the two invaders, as the noise would've more than served its purpose.

The house fell quiet for a split second with the alarms no longer blaring, but soon Gaara was able to hear muffled voices coming from beyond the walls, sounding like they were coming from up at least one set of stairs.

A tendril of sand shot out of Gaara's gourd, wrapping itself around Roman and pulling him back to Gaara's side. With the other redhead in tow and the plan implicated, Gaara prepared to turn around, only for the cellar door they had come through get sealed off by a metal shutter they came down around the wood.

Roman groaned, blearily getting to his feet after falling back into the cellar. He pushed some barrels that he had toppled into out of the way and shook some dust off himself, before his face lit up in pure panic.

"Oh, no! Nononononononono..." he rambled, just now noticing the steel shutter that blocked their way out of the cellar. Surprisingly enough, another shutter over the door leading to the manor would've sealed them off in this room, but that didn't happen.

The two of them found out why very quickly. The moonlight in the house peeking through the open door was giving them a little bit of illumination in the basement, but a shadow soon fell over them that wasn't entirely humanoid.

The first thing that Gaara noticed was that it almost looked like an oversized tin can on legs. It stood in the doorway, its singular red eye strafing over the room before locking itself on the two intruders.

"Damn! They have a security robot! This must be the work of Sienna Arc!"

"Who?" Gaara asked.

"Sienna Arc! She's just as smart as her sister, but she specializes in the field of mechanics and robotics. She's still only ten years old though; probably why this thing looks like something from a cartoon."

The red eye finally focused itself on Roman, but Gaara's eyes widened as the sound of mechanical whirring gave way to twin guns opening up on either side of its head.

Gaara acted quickly, grabbing Roman in a sheathe of sand and pulling him away into the shadows as thin lasers sliced one of the wine barrels that was directly behind Roman into perfect pieces.

Red wine spilled all over the floor, but the robot was already looking around again to reacquire its targets. Gaara acted quickly, casting a shroud of sand over Roman and himself, before he noticed the robot was gathering its data based on that large red sensor eye.

While he shielded both of them with sand, he sent out a tiny, tiny stream of the substance over, just a few grains wide. Before the sentry bot could re-detect their whereabouts, Gaara had already forced some of the grains in between the joints of the robot, particularly on the apparent laser cannons that it had mounted by its head.

There was no boom, no whirring of gears. But there was a small, repetitive clicking noise from within the machine, as whatever Gaara had done seemed to have jammed the mechanisms that allowed it to use that particular weapon.

Gaara responded next with a wave of sand, wrapping the robot in his signature move and crushing it down into its original metal parts. He let go of the remains, watching as the metal clanked down the stairs.

"There's bound to be more of them, and that alarm must've woken up the whole house!" Roman shouted. Gaara glanced behind himself one final time; they had been shut off from their entrance, which meant that they would have to find another way out. The mission they were on had been compromised almost immediately by Roman's stupidity, all that mattered now was trying to evade capture.

The former Suna ninja was already making his way up the stair; it wouldn't do good to get corned in the small and cramped basement by more than one sentry bot or worse, the Arcs themselves.

"Hey, wait up" Roman cried, scrambling to follow Gaara. The old staircase creaked underneath their combined weight. They avoided stepped on the sensor beam this time, Roman methodically stepping over the red laser and onto the polished wooden floor on the ground level. Gaara immediately moved to hang a right, noting the narrow hallways they were currently. All around him seemed to a multitude of storage rooms, unless the Arcs all lived in this cramped part of the mansion, which seemed unlikely.

But now that Gaara was out, they didn't need to look for an exit. The wine cellar had been blocked off with those metal shutters, but now he could just erode away the stone surrounding them with his sand and make their escape.

"We're getting out of here..." Gaara muttered as Roman came out of the cellar on his rear.

"But, what about my assistant!?"

"You tripped the security system, and our job just became several times more difficult with the Arcs awake and looking for intruders. Do you fancy getting killed here? They'll be on high alert, but we can come back later when they aren't looking for us..."

Roman walked up to Gaara and grabbed the scruff of his shirt, which neither the sand nor Gaara attempted to stop him.

"We don't have time for that! We need to find Neo now, before they end up doing something worse to her in the meantime!" Roman shouted. Gaara had to admit, the criminal had a point. There was no telling what sort of time frame they were working with on this rescue mission. For all they knew, his assistant could've already fell prey to the machinations of those hideous experiments Roman had told him about.

"I hear talking from down this way!" a voice shouted to someone or something else. The two intruders heard what sounded like mechanical wheels moving across the floor, and the voice was spoke was a girl's. A very young girls'

Roman froze up at probably the worst possible time, because Gaara was ready to tear a hole in the wall and get them out of here. But the voice was coming from behind them in the opposite direction and around a corner, and as Gaara glanced backward he could see two shadows cast against the wall and getting bigger.

There was no more time. Roman just stood there stock still, but Gaara prepared for confrontation, but not before he raised his hands into a seal.

"Henge!" he muttered to himself. A puff of smoke later and he was standing there as his deceased father, without the Kazekage garb of course. It wouldn't do to have his face be plastered all over a wanted poster if he was going to live in the world.

He elbowed Roman in the side, breaking the other redhead out of his stupor as the first of the Arc daughters rounded the corner with _something_ in tow with her.

* * *

Naruto left the inn after staying just one night, and what followed was several weeks of walking through the forests and swamps of Anima. They never stayed long in one place, camping in the safest, driest place they could find and then moving on the next day.

After a couple weeks of this type of travel, the three of them settled down in the best place they could find as usual. They set up their campsite and went to rest, taking turns watching for bandits or Grimm while the other two slept.

It was the middle of the night when Neptune rustled himself up from his seat where he was watching and made his way over to Arslan's sleeping bag. He nudged her lightly, stealing glances at Naruto every once in a while to make sure he wouldn't wake up.

The lone female of the group groaned in annoyance as she was roused from her sleep, tossing and turning a bit before she opened her bloodshot eyes to gaze upon Neptune.

"What?" she asked, surprise leaking into her voice when she realized it was still very dark out, and that it wasn't Naruto who was rousing her. "Is it my turn to watch over the campsite?"

Neptune raised a finger to his lips, shushing Arslan down as his eyes moved to where Naruto was fast asleep.

" _What_?" she asked again, this time a bit sharper.

"We need to talk, when he can't listen in on us..."

Naruto didn't stir, but Neptune couldn't be sure that he wasn't listening on them, wide awake. It was honestly rather eerie.

"What do you mean?"

"I wanted to talk to you about this; does it feel right to you? And I'm talking about you personally, does it feel right to go with Naruto?" he asked, as Arslan sat up in her sleeping bag.

Apparently she hadn't been the only one who could feel the cloud of doubt that was hanging over their group. She had tried to keep it to herself, but Neptune had noticed something.

"So much has happened recently, and it's happened because Naruto crashlanded into our lives. I'm better off following him to Mistral; I know that right now that for me the events that happened are a blessing. I doubt we can say the same about you..."

Arslan began fiddling with a piece of her blonde mane.

"Look, I'm still really shaken about what happened. I don't want to talk about it; I just want to get to Mistral and put this all behind us..."

"You don't seem all that comfortable around Naruto..." Neptune pointed out. Arslan slumped when he pointed that out, resting her head against her hands as she let out a sigh.

"Is it really that obvious? It's just... he seems nice, but all that stuff happened and there's just something that's so... off about him."

"I don't blame you. We know he attracts the Grimm big time, though we don't know why that is! I've never heard of a single human being such a magnet for the Grimm. And the way he fights too... I've never seen anything like it. It's definitely not like a huntsman, nor is it mundane enough to be something like a village warrior or hunter."

"Are you sure? I've never really gone outside my village before, so I've never seen a huntsman fight in person."

"Yeah, I'm sure. He doesn't fight like a huntsman. That clone thing he does is probably his semblance, but the way he fights isn't really the big issue here. The whole "Grimm magnet" thing is."

"We're getting closer to Mistral. No Grimm will be able to penetrate the kingdom's walls. But the longer we travel with Naruto out here in the wild, the more we put ourselves at risk. I've never been under attack by so many Grimm in my life, even when working at the circus."

Neptune paused for a moment.

"I just... I wouldn't blame you if it turns out you can't trust him yet. His intentions seem good, but... I just don't know. He's really the only way for me to get into a huntsman school though, so I'm going to keep traveling with him. Maybe we'll come to trust him completely in time... but you, you don't really have a reason to be traveling with us or even trust him at all..."

"No, but... I have nowhere else to go..."

Across from where the two were holding their conversation, Naruto had his back turned. His eyes were wide open; he blinked once, a neutral expression on his face as he rolled over and shut his eyes once again.

* * *

And we're done here.

Roman sure is useless and dumb here, isn't he? Like I said, my take on him six years before the story starts is as a greenhorn thug who has survived off brute force and violence until now. Lying and cheating Roman? That comes later; maybe this mission will help him learn a few things.

This is a short chapter, but I felt it was a good place to end. The next one or two chapters will focus on Gaara solely, but then the focus will shift to Naruto as he arrives at Mistral.

If we're breaking the story into arcs, it kind of looks like this

Chapter 1-3: Introduction Arc

Chapter 4-8: Clover Arc

Chapter 9-14 or 15: Gaara in the Underworld Arc

Chapter 16-: Mistral Arc

I want to finish up this first, though the Mistral Arc is going to be a real turning point in the story and when the conflict really starts to kick in. I really think you guys will like it, but I'm going to wait because in a month or so when Volume 5 comes out we should be getting some glimpses of what Mistral is actually like.

Peace for now,

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	14. The Arc Sisters

So, the fanfiction writers nightmare is writing for a series like this where it's a long runner, where new revelations happen constantly and could change everything and make ideas obsolete. RWBY Volume 5 premiers right around the corner, so I wonder what new developments are going to change things. That's why I'm waiting for Naruto's arc in Mistral.

* * *

Chapter 14: The Arc Sisters

What stood before them seemed to almost be a larger version of that tin can sentry robot that had cornered them in the wine cellar. That one had been the size of a large dog and was small enough to move on individual wheels.

This one was larger and bulkier than a grown man, almost reached the ceiling and moved around through the use of a caterpillar track. When it turned the corner it did so with some difficulty due to its unwieldy nature in these tight corridors, and stopped when its laid its two red eyes on them.

"She really loves her cartoon robots..." Roman mumbled under his breath. His heart was hammering in his chest though. He fidgeted in place, barely able to hold onto his cane. A motion sensor light clicked on around the corner, illuminating the area they were as the person controlling the robot rounded the corner.

Gaara looked less perturbed, even though this was a machine that he hadn't seen before today and in fact would not exist in his world. The bulky metal humanoid would probably be intimidating to a normal civilian or something like Roman who had been exposed to the apparent Arc bogeyman over the years.

The robot's apparent master was hardly fear-inspiring at all, but Gaara noticed the Roman was looking at her like some kind of demon from hell and not the young, normal looking girl that she actually was.

A ten year old girl and a clunky looking robot. The contrast couldn't be more apparent, but somehow they looked right at home with one another. Getting another look at her, Gaara could tell from the annoyance on her face that they were not welcome here, especially considering the blue pajamas and the unruly, tangled orange hair that her sleep had been disturbed.

"Is that her?" Gaara asked quietly.

"Looks like Sienna Arc to me. The one who designed all these robots, but these scraps of metal aren't our real concern considering you took one out easily just minutes ago. If she brought her weapon though..." Roman said. His eyes were moving up and down Sienna's body, as if looking for something. When he spotted the grey screwdriver fastened through a loop in her pajamas, he gulped.

"Intruders have been located..." the girl said into what appeared to be a watch, as she glared at the two men who now invaded her family's manor. Roman shared a glance with Gaara; of all the Arc daughters they could've run into first, it had to be this one. The one who could immediately let her sisters know their location.

She narrowed her eyes were she received no response.

"Rouge, do you read me?" she asked a little louder into the watch, and with more than a hint of irritation, "Geez, that girl. She can't keep getting wrapped up in her projects to not notice anything else going on around her... I don't think she has her Scroll either." she said when she didn't receive a response.

" **Identifying Targets...** " the robot said, in the most stereotypical robot voice. Its red eyes flashed with a glowing light for just a moment as it scanned over the two intruders while its master was busy trying to get a hold of her sister. Sienna raised her head to acknowledge the efforts, and prompting the robot to continue.

" **Identifying Target #1 as Roman Torchwick of Vale. Height: 6'2". Weight: 180 lbs. Age: 22. Professional Status: Currently working as a independent hire within the Vale underworld. Associated with Neopolitan, AKA Neo Politan..."**

The voice rattled off Roman's details to Sienna, an occurrence that nearly make Roman scream and run off right there. The only thing that kept him from doing so was the knowledge that he would be mowed down by the robot or Sienna if he tried that.

But the Arcs had all his information and he was now a target of them. For a career criminal like Roman Torchwick, that was essentially like signing his own death warrant.

Sienna glared.

"So that's what this is about. That girl we captured the other day and gave to Rouge; you're her partner..."

" **Identifying Target #2..."** the sentry robot fell silent for a moment, " **Error! Error! No matching records exist on this individual...** "

" _What?_ " Sienna cried, her finger going through the loop on her pajamas to touch her weapon instinctively. "How could there possibly be no data? We have access to the census from all four kingdoms and the territories outside!"

Sienna was more asking herself, as the robot didn't respond. There was an essentially unknown individual invading her family home, but she didn't seem too bothered by it as she turned her focus on the one that had been identified.

"Nevertheless, it's obvious this is an ill-advised rescue attempt. No matter who _you_ are... _"_ the girl said, pointing to the disguised Gaara, "Know that you have zero chance of success. Surrender now and you will not be harmed."

That was unlikely; maybe if she had said they wouldn't be _killed_ it would be more accurate. But if what Roman said was true, they would probably be handed off to Sienna's younger sister to undergo god knows what.

"And subject ourselves to whatever torture your sister is going to put us through! Ha! Unlikely, little lady!" Roman cried with as much bravado as the budding mob boss could muster, even as he was slowly backpedaling away from the robot and its master.

He was behind the transformed Gaara at this point. Sienna closed her eyes.

"I see. It seems I will have to incapacitate you with force then." The thin arms of the robot raised, showing the two intruders the multiple barrels on the end of each one.

The transformed Gaara grabbed Roman's wrist before the robot could do anything, but its gatling guns for arms were firing round after round before long, the repetitive chink of bullets putting holes in the Arc manor's doors and walls.

Sienna watched calmly on as the bullets kicked up dust and splinters, not batting an eyelash even at the possibility that the two criminals would be riddled with holes.

"That's enough, Orleans. If they have aura, they should be sufficient to render them depleted. If they don't, well..."

The mechanical whirring of the robot's weapons slowed to a halt, and the dust began to settle. Gaara and Roman were nowhere to be seen. In their place seemed to be a chair that Sienna recognized as from her foyer, that had been reduced to nothing more than splinters and fluff.

As the robot now christened as Orleans retracted its metal arms back into its body, Sienna stepped forward and looked at the ruined chair with a perplexed frown.

The Kawarimi was lost on her as she failed to comprehend how the intruders could pull off what essentially amounted to a magic trick. She chalked it up to a semblance before realizing that the intruders would still be very much in the house.

"Orleans, scan for heat signatures!"

The robots eyes began to light up again with the same infrared beam, as it scanned the hallway in front of them for any signs of the intruders or their movement. When there appeared to be none, Sienna let out a frustrated gasp.

"Where did they go?" she asked herself, before turning around in preparation to head back the other direction with her robot.

With the substitution, Gaara and Roman broke out of the narrow corridors and hallways that were clearly used as storage space, and found themselves in a much more spacious room. They stood with their backs against the wall, out of the sight of the girl and her robot. What they were in now was one of the larger rooms in the house and judging from the staircases and spaces leading to other hallways on the first floor; clearly it was the foyer.

Roman didn't dare poke his head out and look down the corridor; he was too tense for such a thing. From what Gaara was hearing however, Sienna seemed to be confused about his ninjutsu.

"We're never gonna find Neo in this maze!" Roman cried, almost falling to his knees and admitting defeat, "We're trapped like rats in their own house! Pretty soon the rest of the Arc daughters will have encircled us!"

Indeed, there were other hallways, and staircases that lead to other floors. They couldn't exactly pinpoint where they were supposed to be going, and the mansion's size only made that more difficult to navigate.

"Now do you see why it's important to be careful?" Gaara hissed at him, trying to imitate his father's voice as best he could. Ever since he had met Roman, the criminal had been a reckless idiot. But after constant admonishment of his actions, Gaara could see the gears beginning to turn painfully slowly in his head.

"Let's not stay here though. Someone else is bound to find us in here if we just stick around, and that girl will still be looking for us." Frankly, Gaara was surprised they hadn't run into any of the other Arc daughters by now.

An ornate chandelier hung over their heads, pristine and made of glass as it complemented the antique double staircase that led to the upper stairs. Opposite the direction they just came from was another set of hallways. To the north was the kitchen and the living room, which were currently unoccupied.

"There's only so many places she can be..." Roman muttered, "She's definitely not the only one. They need a place big enough to contain a whole bunch of prisoners."

"Perhaps underground?" Gaara wondered. The wine cellar they had entered didn't seem like it would be the only underground passage in a manor like the one they were in.

The smoke was beginning to clear, and Gaara made the decision for them on where they were going to go next. He made his way down the opposite hallway, forgetting the stairs for the time being. He passed a few open doors, a guest bedroom, a bathroom, a tea room. None of them seemed suspicious in the slightest.

As they made their way down the hallway, that quickly changed. As they came to the end of the hallway and the darkness parted around them, one door stood out above all else.

Unlike all the other wooden doors, this one was made of reinforced steel and was similar to the shutters that had trapped them in the basement earlier, except this was its default state instead of a result of a security measure. On the wall to the right was a fingerprint scanner no doubt put in by one of the resident geniuses.

"This looks suspicious..." Roman commented. After so much running around the mansion, miraculously avoiding all but one of the Arc sisters, they had come across this door.

Gaara glared at the door.

"But how do we get in?" he asked.

"It's the scanner. Looks like it takes one of the Arc's fingerprints. If we can capture one of the Arcs, then we can get in." Roman said, but his tone brooked that it was easier said than done.

None of the Arc sisters were particularly defenseless. Sienna was the only Arc they had encountered so far, and she was armed with a chemical launcher and several robots at her disposal. The others... Gaara had been informed of their capabilities to the best of Roman's abilities, but he was going mostly off what he knew from the underground and a lot of rumors.

There was also no guarantee that any of the others were even home.

From what he had been briefed, the other Arc sisters or their parents weren't better options to just capture and use to get into the bunker. Right now, it didn't seem like they had a choice.

They approached the foyer yet again, backtracking and heading back down the hallway before Orleans showed up and trapped them again in that enclosed space. When they got back to the foyer, Sienna Arc was standing right there, the screwdriver on her waist now an enormous chemical thrower that she had slung over her shoulder.

"What's going on?"

A new voice entered the fray, and Roman very nearly jumped out of his skin. The last thing any of them needed right now was getting another Arc sister, but a few seconds later the two invaders realized that the voice was of a young male's.

Gaara turned to where the voice was coming from, and immediately saw a figure leaning against the railing on the second floor, looking down at what was occurring in the foyer.

It wasn't one of the Arc sisters; the boyish voice gave that away. Instead it was a skinny blonde boy that looked about a year or so older than Sienna, looking down in awe at what was transpiring in his house. His blue eyes didn't have the same edge of experience or intelligence as Sienna's; they were just that of a normal preteen boy.

He looked scrawny and weak, out of place with the Arc's presumed reputation. When Gaara looked back at Sienna, he saw fear in her eyes. Not _at_ the boy it seemed, but _for_ the boy.

That was a weakness.

"Jaune!" Sienna cried, looking up at her brother in surprise. Home invaders weren't exactly a common occurrence, but the last time it had happened the only Arc son had remained in his room and refused to come out. Then again, their oldest sister had incapacitated the intruders in a matter of seconds, and Violet Arc wasn't home at the moment.

"Who's that?" Gaara whispered.

"I don't know. An Arc son, perhaps? The only ones we know about in the criminal underworld are daughters; I didn't even know they had a boy. The power line is passed down through females anyway; he may not be a fighter."

Roman and Gaara shared a look, and no words were necessary. They didn't even need to use one of the Arcs to get into the lab anymore; they could demand Neo in an exchange right now if Gaara could capture the boy. Sand whipped out of Gaara's gourd in a long, thin tendril. Sienna gasped when she saw it, realizing what Gaara was about to do when the tendril of sand began darting towards the second floor.

The robot Orleans seemed to go into overdrive when it too figured out that the tendril of sand was attacking one of the Arcs, triggering a defense mechanism that came with the territory. Both of his arm guns began to open fire at the perceived threat, which in this case was the sand that was rapidly approaching the Arc brother.

The gatling gun riddled the sand with many a hole, to the point where it couldn't retain its structure anymore and fell to pieces on the foyer's carpet. As Gaara gathered in back into his gourd, he and Roman found themselves looking down the barrel of Sienna's weapon.

Sienna acted quickly, throwing herself forward without even a regard to the large robot at her side, who was reloading its gatling gun's dust. Her green eyes with alight with anger that someone would dare go after her brother. Her chemical thrower was off her shoulder and aimed at the enemy, preparing to spew a large portion of dust at the duo. Her hand flew to the side where she turned some kind of handle, to which the interface turned from a yellow symbol of lightning to a snowflake.

She pulled the trigger and ice dust flowed from the enormous barrel in a large and no doubt expensive stream. She closed her left eye and rotating her weapon back and forth like a sprinkler, trying to block any escape route and freeze Roman and Gaara solid.

A wall of sand prevented that from happening, even as some of Gaara's sand froze. Sienna shook, her weapon slowly going lax in her grip as her eyes were crazed with fear and anger. A bead of sweat rolled down her cheek and she blew a lock of orange hair away from her eyes, ready to spew more streams of dust at them.

She considered flipping the switch again to the flame sysbol this time, but the only thing that prevented her from doing so was that she didn't want to burn her house down. But she knew that the two intruders had protected themselves from her ice.

The ice shattered not a moment later, surprising the young girl and as it did she barely had a moment to see the cane pointed at her before an explosive dust round was shot. It landed in her vicinity and went off, blowing her off her feet as the small girl went sliding across the floor.

She hit the wall behind her, stopping her momentum but her aura had been taken down to dangerous levels. The ten year old tried to rub her head in pain, but she lost consciousness before that could even happen after another shot from Roman while she was still disoriented.

Gaara stepped onto the shattered ice crystals next to Roman, looking at him strangely. Roman had been nothing but a self-described thug who was all muscle and no brain. He had just used a sneak attack to take out Sienna. A rudimentary one, to be sure, but everything he had seen so far from Roman didn't indicate that he was even capable of that.

"What? You wanted me to be more sneaky, right? I can see why you wanted to; that was so much better than charging in!" Roman said, as the sand shield rose up again to protect them from more rounds of gatling fire from Orleans.

Without any input from its creator, the robot was relatively limited, but it was programmed in mind to protect the Arcs and ward off any intruders, but Gaara found it was susceptible to the same weaknesses that the earlier sentry robot had.

Two clogged barrels of sand later, and the gatling gun burst, causing an explosion that resulted from the dust having no suitable exit. With a loud thud, the robot's guns fell off, clattering against the floor. Still, despite its main weapons being destroyed, it got in the way of Gaara and the unconscious Sienna, prompting to protect its master from further threat.

Roman grinned triumphantly as he patted Gaara on the back.

"Hey, you're really something else! I can't believe we defeated one of the Arc sisters and a couple of her scrap metal monstrosities. This is turning out better than my last robbery!"

"Don't get too arrogant. All we did was defeat a ten year old..." Gaara shot back, but as Roman began basking in the glow of his victory, Gaara's eyes were turning to the lone Arc male standing on the second floor.

The boy upstairs gave a gasp when he saw his sister get pummeled, and he seemed to contemplate on what he should do, run back down the hallway and hide or help Sienna.

Jaune's legs locked like jelly however, even when he decided to not take the cowardly way and help his sister. With a great deal of effort, Jaune managed to slowly move his left leg forward, and soon he was very slowly and very mechanically walking down the stairs.

"H-Hey!" he tried to shout, but his voice came out as more of a frightened whimper while he tried to confront the two men invading his living room. He touched down on the landing midway between the staircases, when a tendril of sand wrapped around his leg.

Jaune yelped as he was hoisted in the air and brought down to ground level, the sand levitating him by the ankle before more wrapped around his torso like a harness. Pretty soon, he was in a cacoon of sand as he was subjected to the dreaded Sand Coffin.

There would be no funeral, though. All they needed was the ability to get through that door with hopefully a fingerprint from an Arc, but unfortunately for them the boy's sister had been knocked out cold.

But as Roman and Gaara prepared to turn towards the hallway where the metal door lie, there was a click at the front door in the south end of the foyer. The double doors opened slowly with a deep creak, and walking in was a blue haired girl who seemed to be in her early to mid teens. She seemed fairly tomboyish with her ripped jeans and midriff-bearing tank top, but the fact that her hair had been styled into curls and she was wearing a healthy dose of makeup indicated that she wasn't exactly just getting back from a deadly mission abroad.

Roman gasped and backed away nonetheless, his back hitting the wall.

The new Arc girl placed a hand on her hip jauntily and thrust her red lips out in a pout.

"Well, what is going on here?" the girl asked, her voice loud and somewhat abrasive. She seemed to notice the intruders and chaos in the foyer first, but her expression changed when she witnessed her unconscious younger sister leaning against the wall next to one of her beloved robots.

"Sienna!" she cried, worry suddenly coating her voice as she rushed to the orange-haired girl's aid. She dropped to her knees and shook her sister, trying to rouse the ten year old from unconsciousness.

"Sienna, wake up!" she cried. She grabbed Sienna's scroll from the unconscious girl's pocket and took a quick peek at her aura, which happened to be depleted into the red.

She turned and glared at the two intruders in her family manor, letting out an angry gasp as she did so. One of him caught her eye due to his flamboyant garb, but the other was fairly non-descriptive except for the strange gourd on his back.

There was a large conglomeration of sand levitating in mid-air above their heads, but it only seemed to confuse the eldest Arc present as the Gaara brought it down to rest between the two sides.

Then she realized what was so odd about the mass of sand. It was covering something like a cocoon, except that something seemed to be her one and only brother. Only his face was sticking out from the conglomerate of sand, his mouth having been covered so he couldn't cry out for help.

"Clearly you don't need an explanation as to what is happening right now. Bring us the girl now, or its curtains for your brother!" Roman shouted, stepping forward jauntily and poking the Arc boy's face with the end of his cane. Gaara gave him a deadpan look at the jubilation Roman seemed to be taking in this. He was enjoying this just for its own sake.

Aqua didn't dare step forward or move a muscle; she didn't have her weapon anyway.

"What girl?" she asked slowly, not daring to try and set off the criminals while her brother's life dangled in the balance.

"R-Rouge. The girl R-Rouge took in the o-other day. I need to call her and tell her to get up here immediately." Sienna gasped, who in the tension had pulled herself to her feet.

Aqua stared at her sister and then at the intruders.

"Go ahead and call her..."

* * *

It was a dimly lit room, a labyrinth carved into the bedrock beneath the Arc manor. Only the Arc matriarch, the oldest Arc daughter, and the two youngest were allowed in the bunker, and the scanner put above the door would only read their fingerprints.

The aforementioned four knew what went on within the Arc family's true basement. Jaune Arc and the rest of the daughters knew about the work their sister did, but they were unaware of the grisly details.

Rouge Arc didn't even look up after an explosion occurred in Sienna's west wing. Her mechanical genius of a sister was always trying something reckless, but the orange-haired Arc wasn't around at the moment.

It was sealed off from the rest of the bunker, away from her lab in the east wing and the prisoners' holding cells in the south wing.. The bunker itself was soundproof to everything going on outside, so Rouge didn't even come close to hearing the sounds of the intrusion that was happening in her family abode.

She was so focused and in the zone that she probably wouldn't have noticed regardless. There before her in the center of her lab was her operating table, the one thing the prisoners whispered to themselves about.

The prisoners whispered to it among themselves while mingling together during their social time, before they were placed back into the well-furnished cells. They ate well, slept well, bathed, and dressed well. Despite being the so-called scum and death row inmates of the kingdom, they were treated like royalty by Rouge, who watched over them like a caring mother hen.

After so long in maximum security, the prisoners began to get used to their lot in life. They began to enjoy themselves for the first time in years at the pleasures they were given. Some of them even had conjugal visits with the Arc matriarch, who took it upon herself after her daughter made it clear she was trying to make them comfortable.

The girl strapped to Rouge's operating table had no such delusions about her situation like so many of the other prisoners. Neo knew that she had been in a gilded cage for these past few days, just waiting to be experimented on before being carted off to the closed off north wing of the underground bunker. The idiots in the holding cells had been deceived by a false paradise.

Neo's eyelids fluttered open and shut, her vision blurry as she seemed to fade slightly from consciousness while never fully letting merciful bliss of sleep to take her. She had ceased resistance a while ago, especially when the anesthetic began to kick in.

She remembered it all so well, but it was so ridiculous, painful, and humiliating that in her heart of hearts she was trying to deny it as a dream. Yet here she was, strapped to the operating table with a crying nine year old looming over her and she began her latest research.

It was something about the transfer of semblances. Rouge here was a biologist above all else. Sienna made mechnical weapons; Rouge made biological weapons from death row inmates sent to her from the Kingdom of Vale. She was going to be turned into a human weapon for exploit by the kingdom and the Arcs.

She didn't know the next step, but she knew what had already happened. Swimming in a jar of liquid on the table next to her were the things that Rouge had just removed. Her vocal cords.

She hadn't been listened. Rouge wanted to do something with her voice But between her own delirium and Rouge's sobbing she could hardly make it out. Neo didn't get the girl; she hadn't stopped crying since she started. Apparently all the amenities she gave the prisoners was a way for her to show kindness. It seemed it really tore the girl up at heart; she also hadn't stopped her research in the slightest.

Neo hoped it would stop there. How far would Rouge go far with playing god over her body. She had heard the rumors of what happened; what kind of biological weapon would she be in the end? And what was her end goal?

Her addled mind rode to new places, until a beep in the earpiece Rouge was wearing went off. She gave a childish huff at the interruption, but listened as a voice that was clearly her sister's sounded in her ear.

It was Sienna. It usually was; the two shared a common ground as child prodigies in the sciences and were the closest in age. She didn't usually sound so panicked, however.

"Rouge! Rouge, are you there?" Sienna asked through the speaker.

"Yeah, I am. What's up, sis? Why do you sound so worried?"

"You- never mind. I need you to get upstairs quickly, and bring the weird girl with the multi-colored hair you got a couple weeks ago."

"Aw, really? You called at a bad time, sis. The Kingdom wanted me to begin research on semblance transfer through allotransplantation. I was going to give her the vocal cords from one of my cadavers who had a semblance that involved the use of speech. I've already removed her own; it seems like such a waste for her..."

"Rouge... semblances are tangible representations of one's aura. I don't think you can transfer one by an organ transplant."

"There is a school of thought out there that residual aura may linger in a body after death and may be assimilated if taken in by a living person. Anyway, we won't know for certain unless I run some tests on the subject."

"We're getting off topic. You need to get up here quickly with the woman known as Neo Politan. It's important. We've got a couple of freaks who had invaded the house and they've taken Jaune hostage! They're making demands!"

" _What?"_ Rouge practically shrieked, "Not big brother! Hold on, I'm on my way..." the youngest Arc said. Her hand frantically moved over to a syringe on the operating table, and she looked back at Neo.

Neo's eyes widened in horror, the now mute woman's way of producing a silent scream. Rouge looked at her, trying to give the most reassuring look she could before jamming the needle into Neo's arm.

"Shhhhhhhh. Just relax and sleep now..."

The drug that Rouge had contained in the syringe was a powerful sleeping narcotic, capable of knocking out a Nevermore in a matter of seconds. For humans the effect was even more potent, as Neo was out like a light on the operating table before Rouge had finished injecting her with the fluid.

She pushed a button underneath the operating table, and it transformed to begin sprouting mechanical walkers legs to turn it into a sort of self-moving gurney. It was a little birthday present that Sienna had made for her. It slowly followed Rouge as she exited the lab, Neo out cold on top of the gurney as they moved through the underground bunker.

Back up on ground level, the Arc foyer was a disaster area. There were bullet holes scattered all over the place in the walls and furniture. The ground in the middle of the room was covered in rapidly melting ice crystals, which was dampening their antique silk rug.

Rouge's draw dropped as she pushed the gurney out of the hallway and into the room, where five people were mingling in the tension. Three of them Rouge recognized as her siblings, with a groggy Sienna leaning against a wall nearly her damaged robot Orleans, and Aqua standing next to Sienna as rigid as a statue and a look of concerned fear plastered all over her face.

Rouge's only brother was being held hostage by two unknown men, a look of panic on his face. He'd probably be crying out if his mouth wasn't covered by what appeared to be sand. It was wrapped around his body as well, forming what looked to be like a cocoon, or more morbidly a coffin.

Lastly, Aqua seemed to be have been stunned into inaction by the capture of her brother. Her trident wasn't anywhere to be found anyway; the fifteen year old hadn't taken her weapon with her to whatever gathering she had been at. Her parents and other siblings were away on their own business and would not be home for hours if not days. She seemed distressed and panicky, even more so than Sienna.

"Rouge! Thank God you're here! Did you bring the prisoner?" her blue-haired older sister asked, having slung an arm around Sienna to help the injured girl to her feet.

Rouge pushed the gurney out into the hallway, passing the two intruders warily before falling into line with her sisters.

"Neo!" Roman cried, taking a step forward before the transformed Gaara reached his right arm out and blocked him. His eyes panned to the figure on the gurney. She was a petite young thing that looked just as flamboyant and eccentric as Roman. She was currently out cold, however.

More sand levitated out of Gaara's gourd and Rouge flinched as she watched the display. He formed a makeshift platform that he floated over next to the gurney while keeping his eyes trained on the Arc family.

"Return her to us and allow us to leave the grounds peacefully, and we will return your brother to you unharmed."

Aqua and Sienna nodded to each other, and Aqua lifted Neo off the gurney and placed her awkwardly on the platform of sand. The sand retreated back to the other end of the room, but the coffin containing Jaune floated forward.

The sand fell off him harmlessly and the blonde boy collapsed into his older sister's arm crying. Aqua wrapped her arms around him gently and shushed him, stroking the back of his hair as the teenager looked forward to see what Roman and Gaara would do next.

Gaara dropped the unconscious Neo into Roman's arms, who looked at her with a mixture of sadness and disbelief that he had successfully gotten her back. The cork popped back on Gaara's gourd.

"Well?" Aqua spat with disdain, "You got your wish. Now get out of here! The door's that way; you can use it to get out of here and never set foot on our property ever again!"

Roman looked vaguely offended, but a quick look from Gaara reminded him that Neo was more important. Wordlessly, the two of them made their way to the front door that Aqua had come through not long ago and exited.

The Arcs stood in tension and watched the door, as if they prepared for the intruders to come in and attack them once more. Rouge pushed the gurney out of the way as the two youngest siblings in the family crowded around their brother and latched themselves around him from either side as Aqua comforted him.

Just then, a scroll began vibrating in Aqua's pocket.

"You two, make sure Jaune's alright..." she said, letting go of the boy and glancing at his tear-stained face before his two younger sisters began smothering him. She pulled out her scroll from her pocket and stepped back, not even having to glance at the Caller ID to know who it was.

"Hello? Oh, hi Violet!" she cried, putting on a tone of faux surprise, "What's up? How's the mission going? Oh, you noticed someone tripped our security when your scroll was alerted to it?"

Aqua gave an awkward chuckle.

"Yeah, there were a couple of dudes here. But don't worry, everything's under control. They took Jaune as a hostage for a while there and demanded one of the research subjects that Rouge got recently, but don't worry... Jaune is safe and sou- Ow, ow ow! Alright, alright! You don't have to yell in my ear!"

"Uh huh. Uh huh... Uhhh-huh? You want me to go after them? But Jaune's fine; we had a bit of a nasty scare but he's safe now." Aqua continued her one-sided conversation, and the three younger siblings exchanged nervous glances as Jaune began to calm down.

"What?! This isn't about our pride, Vi! Jaune was held _hostage_ in case you didn't know; our brother is more important than some dumb crook that Rouge plays God with, and for your information I let them go because I didn't want to drag Jaune into the inevitable fight that would've occurred!"

Aqua stopped talking for a moment, and Sienna could hear her oldest sister screaming on the other line.

"But I... but... but," Aqua stammered, before eventually sighing, "Alright, fine! I'll go after them; they left not too long ago and they shouldn't even be off the grounds yet!"

Aqua gave a tart goodbye and put her scroll away, and stared down at her siblings fiercely.

"Rouge, grab my trident."

* * *

And we're done here.

 _ **The God of Pikmin**_


	15. Information Network

_It's almost like I'm a God of this place, I can control limited aspects of it._

 _-Unknown_

* * *

Chapter 15: Information Network

Neo lay unconscious on the platform of sand as Gaara and Roman walked down the dirt path leading away from the Arc manor down to the gates that served as their property line.

Gaara had relieved Roman of carrying her once they exited the house, opting to use his sand to transport her instead. They had just about reached the gates of the property when Gaara perked up and glared sharply at Roman.

"Take Neo and go..." he barked, suddenly dropping Neo into Roman's arms again. He did it not a moment too soon, as right after he did so a metal object come whizzing through the air, rotating on its access as it passed through the spot the sand had just been before spinning around like a boomerang to go back from whence it came.

The cork popped off Gaara's gourd yet again, and Roman didn't need anymore prompting as he caught a glimpse of the blue-haired girl who just a couple minutes ago seemed willing to allow them to leave.

"Uh, right! I'll meet you at the bar!" Roman shouted, shifting Neo in his arms as he pulled open the gates and ran as fast as he could out of the Arc property into the darkness of the village.

Aqua didn't necessarily want to let them go, but any attempts she could think of to try and stop them would be blocked by that annoying sand, so she merely focused her attention on what clearly had been the primary threat the entire time.

Gaara hadn't shifted back into his normal form, still standing there in the guise of his late father, save with the gourd that was still strapped to his back. For what seemed like the hundredth time since he had arrived on Remnant, the cork popped off the gourd.

"What is the meaning of this? We had a deal to exchange hostages, did we not?" Gaara asked. He raised an eyebrow when he turned around and got a glimpse of the older girl.

A beautiful silver trident was gripped tightly in her hands, but her posture was slumped and she had a distraught look on her face. Her normally perfect blue hair was slightly disheveled.

"Yeah, well if it were up to me I wouldn't even being out going out here to chase you down. But my older sister in her infinite wisdom decided it couldn't be allowed to let you people leave alive."

"Pride... a foolish concept..."

"Still, my sister feels the need to keep our family's reputation crystal clear. Pride may have a lot to with it, maybe more so than caring about the brother you two took hostage, but family is everything to me and I have to follow my sister's orders."

Aqua twirled her trident around skillfully and moved forward, jabbing the three pronged spear when she got close enough to the defense oriented Gaara. As expected, the sand shield popped up to defend.

The prongs slid into the sand about halfway before stopping and the trident was left not budging as it lost all its momentum. But Aqua's index finger was hovering over an extremely small button on the hilt of her weapon.

Gaara glared slightly as he felt the weight of his sand increase somewhat. The area around where Aqua had jabbed her trident was rapidly darkening, and Gaara realized what was happening.

He leaped out of the way as a hole opened up in his sand shield and the trident followed through and stabbed the air where Gaara had been once the resistance had been removed.

Sand flew everywhere as Aqua recoiled, lifted her trident and hoisted it back around herself. It was looking mildly different than it had just seconds before, however. A normal trident would've had its prongs ending in sharp tips designed for stabbing and piercing, and indeed that silver trident was the same.

But now, the tips had opened to form three holes on the end of the spears, allowing one to see the hollow interior. There was a small pile of the slightly discolored sand where Gaara had been standing.

" _Another one of those weapons that transform..."_ Gaara thought to himself, putting two and two together as the heavier, clumping sand was clearly a product of it getting wet.

Aqua twirled her trident skillfully around, pointing the three holes directly at Gaara. Gaara got ready, crouching low into a stance and ready to react to anything. His body still wasn't the most conditioned, years of not training Taijutsu and relying on sand would do that.

Gaara could guess that the trident fired off rounds of highly pressurized water. What he didn't see coming what how fast and powerful the water actually was, drilling through his shield as if it was nothing.

It pierced through his Suna no Yoroi as well, and Gaara felt three pricks of sharp pain in his shoulder and the sensation of warm blood leaking out and staining his clothes.

Gaara glared at the slightly older girl he was facing, reacting immediately to the threat the pressurized water posed to him if it could penetrate through his sandy defenses.

He formed a quick seal before raising his hands, forming a wall of sand equidistant between himself and Aqua right before she fired more water from her trident-gun.

The pressurized water rocketed through the new sand defense, but their momentum in doing so was slowed enough for Gaara to react in time, and they just clipped the edge of his sand shield as he pivoted to the right slightly.

The way that Aqua fought seemed to be a mix of close and long range attacks, which was true to all warriors he had seen on Remnant thus far given their weapons are multi-purpose and shift from melee to ranged at the user's whim.

He didn't know what other abilities she might have up her sleeve, but the use of aura and semblances seemed to be limiting compared to the wide variety of jutsu a shinobi had access to. Unless her semblance proved otherwise, she was almost purely an offensive fighter.

He weaved through a plethora of water bullets as his sand wall was getting slowly whittled down, but when there was a break in the action he dispelled it all immediately and lashed out at Aqua with his sand, grabbing her ankle and hoisting her in the air.

She gave a look of stunned surprise and gasped as she was buffeted around the night air by Gaara, but managed to hold onto her weapon. With a superb amount of skill for being dangled and thrown around in mid-air, she managed to cut through the tendril of sand without cutting off his own foot.

She grunted as the sand dispersed and she hit the ground with a thud, rolling along the lawn of her family's morning as more sand bombarded where she had just been in bursts.

When she gathered enough momentum she flipped onto her feet as sand crashed just at her feet. Before she could fully get her bearings, more sand shot right at her face, to which she took down by stabbing with her trident.

She slid the points off again and shifted back into the gun form of her weapon. But, instead of firing more bullets of pressurized water, she held down another trigger and began to feel the the rumble of water pressure beneath her hands' grip on the handle.

The water dust from within her weapon ignited to form a slower wave of water that formed from the three holes where the prongs used to be. Gaara rolled his eyes; the water bullets were a pain because of their speed. While his sand defenses were slightly weak to water, he had dealt with many a Suiton jutsu and had come out fine.

The wave of cutting water impacted his sand shield, unlike the bullets failing to get through it while making the sand wet and somewhat heavier. Aqua appeared in his vicinity, crouching down below and firing off more bullets as Gaara pivoted.

Aqua stabbed through the shield one last time, breaking it for just a moment. For a split second, Gaara's shield was down and Aqua used that time to strike, strangely enough by folding her weapon and grabbing the scruff of Gaara's shirt with her bare hands.

She placed her right hand on Gaara's chest in a flash, and her aura flashed the same color as her namesake. It was clear to Gaara that she was trying to do something when her aura, but nothing happened when she placed her hand on his chest.

She looked perplexed for a moment, before her expression morphed into one of horror about what wasn't happening, and when a few tendrils of sand attacked her from all sides.

Gaara hadn't felt _nothing_ in whatever it was she was trying to do. The whole thing had lasted little more than a split second which she touched her palm to his chest while his shield couldn't react.

The aura emanating from her hand was like a vacuum, and he could feel the suction on his Yoroi no Tate. The air around him was suddenly a little drier, but the dryness of his sand remained the same, and Gaara realized what she was trying to do.

She was trying to suck the water from him; this was her ability or semblance as they called it on Remnant. For a normal human, she could probably drain all the water from their pores upon contact and leave them nothing but a dried up husk.

She had the awful distinction of running into his Suna no Yoroi however, using her trump card and leaving her unguarded. More sand wrapped around her like a jacket, panic igniting in her eyes as she witnessed herself fall victim to what had happened to her brother just minutes ago.

"Sabaku Kyuu..." Gaara whispered, holding his hand out but not lifting the trapped Aqua off of the ground. The girl tried to move her arms, but the sand was like iron and she couldn't even budge her weapon which was now also trapped within the sand.

Gaara had left her mouth uncovered, and just stared at her from eye-level.

A twin river of tears streamed down her face as she adopted an expression of anguish and fear.

"Why not just kill me now? You won!"

Gaara took a hard, long look at her.

"Because I'm not like that anymore. I don't kill to fulfill the meaning of my existence, but I also have no desire to cause more trouble in this world or bring more attention to myself than I have to. I was here to retrieve the woman and only because it was a job I accepted. I am not here to kill you or your family."

"In this world? What on Remnant are you _talking_ about?"

Aqua looked deep into Gaara's eyes, and found herself wanting to turn away.

"Was your sister's pride worth it? You Arcs aren't infallible no matter how much your sister seems to think so. You could've just let it be, but you followed your sister's word; does she have a stranglehold over your life? Does she even love you at all?" Gaara asked.

Aqua gave a hollow laugh, a bitter smile splitting her face even as it was tearstained.

"Ha! You think I don't know we're not invincible? My sister Violet loves all of us; she cares all about of us except for Jaune, but what makes her such a raging bitch is that only applies as long as she approves of you. If I break the Arc creed and ruin our pride even unintentionally, she won't love me anymore while pretending that it was me that betrayed her. It already happened to Jaune. Funny thing about love and family; is it really love if it can be revoked at any time?"

Gaara didn't respond, but his frown got a little deeper and his eyes a little colder. There was a person who reminded him of that, though he only pretended to love him at first. In fact, he was transformed into him right then.

Gaara turned around, his back facing her.

"I'm going to leave now. When I am far enough away the sand will disperse itself. Do not follow me again; keep in mind I could've killed you just right now, and the only purpose your death would've served was to save your sister's pride..."

Aqua swallowed. She had always hated the creed that her family and half of her sisters followed, but she had just willingly thrust herself into danger for that creed.

She watched Gaara go with a sunken heart. The battle had not lasted long, but it was definitely long enough for Roman and Neo to disappear into the night. Violet cared about retrieving them too, but again only to save the family's pride.

Gaara walked away at almost a leisurely pace, taking his time with Aqua still stuck in his Sabaku Kyuu. When he passed the gates leading off the Arc property, the Sand didn't disappear, but after about a minute after that it finally did.

It fell off her harmlessly, pooling at her feet and lacking the iron tensile strength it had. Aqua scratched her chin, her fingers brushing up against her lips in thought as she stood there in the dark. Her silver trident lay uselessly on the ground, but she didn't bother to pick it up.

Gaara had disappeared into the night, but when she turned around and began to head back to her own house, it was with apprehension.

* * *

It was early in the morning when Gaara returned to Junior's bar, the sun just peeking out of the horizon when the entered the almost completely empty establishment. The music and lights were off, and there were very few henchmen wandering the premises. But Junior himself stood at the bar, and seated at one of the barstools was Roman Torchwick himself.

There were already multiple glasses beside the career criminal, and he was well on his way to polishing off another even as early as it was. Junior looked at him with barely contained disdain, but for the first time in his life Torchwick wasn't running his mouth at every opportunity, so Junior was grateful for the silence.

He had already taken in Torchwick's little psychopath with plenty of protest after the redhead had entered his bar with her in his arms, but after Roman explained the situation even he couldn't help but let Neo rest upstairs. It looked like the Arcs got to her after all, but he was amazed that his newest employee had managed to pull this off. Now Roman would have to put off with his whining to Junior since the man had just done him the biggest favor of his career.

Yet, Gaara still hadn't returned to the bar, so he stood there behind the counter waiting. And his eyes lit up with recognition as the doors to his bar creaked open and in walked the boy in question.

The area above his right shoulder was stained with blood, a set of three puncture holes poked into his clothes. If the wound was bothering him then he paid it no mind, even if barely a year ago he experienced real pain and bleeding for the first time in his life.

With nary a word, he sat down at the bar in front of Junior. The large man gave him a wide smile, uncharacteristic of such a gruff bar owner and semi-retired crime lord.

"Gaara! You made it back! We were getting a little worried about you for a second!" Junior's smile dropped slightly when he saw the bloodstained clothes, but Gaara himself didn't seem concerned about it.

Junior kept eyeing the wound however, and after telling Gaara to stand still he disappeared into the backroom behind the bar before reappearing with a first aid kit.

"Here. I can dress it myself..." Gaara said, brushing off Junior's concerns and taking the first aid kit. He hadn't said a word to Roman yet, who barely seemed to notice Gaara's return and just continued sulking.

"It's good to have you back and to find out your mission was a success. Torchwick has been quiet; he's being all smarmy right now but I think he's really grateful for your assistance in saving Neo Politan."

Roman grunted as the conversation turned to him.

"I'm glad she's alive, but a mess! Those Arcs, I can't believe they did such a thing! Not even we're that cruel!"

Gaara had seen firsthand the girl that they had rescued from the manor; besides her garish clothes and multicolored hair something seemed very off about her.

"That just comes with the territory of being captured by the Arcs. You were lucky that the removal of her vocal cords was all that happened to her in their custody. I can't help but think that was only a prelude for something far more grisly..." Junior commented.

Roman mumbled to himself, too put out to argue.

"I saw the expression on her face as I laid her down to rest upstairs. She's devastated and traumatized. I'll be ready to talk to her once she wakes up, but things are going to be hard from now on..."

"Kid, I can't thank you enough for taking on this little assignment. It's bad enough having to deal with the Arcs, but I doubt I would've been able to pull it off. With this, Roman isn't going to be asking me for any favors anytime soon. You want a one-way trip to Patch, you got it. You want access to my information network; you've gained my trust. As long as you don't mind delving into the criminal underworld now and again. Forget working as a busboy; I could really use your services from time to time, and you'd be surprised as what working in the underworld can do for you, and what we know that the schools and governments do not."

Gaara didn't respond to Junior, but he mulled over the fact that he had gotten out of doing bus boy work by completing this job, just like Junior had promised. What was fairly new to him was that Junior wanted him to be a semi-regular part of the Vale criminal underworld. Which was odd; Gaara had told Junior about what Qrow's intentions for him were. He didn't exactly plan on following through with that plan per se, but Junior still wanted to be in contact with someone who would be involved with the schools and huntsmen, who in turn weren't too far off from the government.

Income was one reason he decided to meet with Junior in the first place, but the other more important reason was access to his information network. It was also why he thinking about humoring Qrow.

Information from the underworld and information from the world authority.

"Let's talk in the kitchen. We'll leave Roman to his devices down here for now..." Junior said, as he beckoned Gaara into the backroom. Once they entered the kitchen and out of earshot from Roman, Junior leaned against the fridge while Gaara placed his elbows against the counter.

"Alright, you fulfilled your end of the bargain we had. Honestly, you clearly weren't meant to be doing bus boy work. You said you wanted information and questions answered, you've proven your worth. I'd be willing to tell you what I know, as well as get in contact with you if new information you want pops up."

Junior adopted a serious expression.

"But isn't it time you let me in on what you're about? Why you decided to seek me out, why a kid as young as you decided to enter a criminal enterprise... What is it you want to know?"

Gaara looked up from dressing his wound with the gauze and bandages that had been provided to him.

"Very well, I suppose I should tell you why exactly I sought you out. This will be a strange request for sure, but all I need you to do is keep your eyes open for anything similar to what I describe. I'm looking for someone... or more accurately some people, though I only know one of them personally as a friend of mine."

Junior seemed confused.

"Well, that's not what I was expecting kid. You mentioned that you're not from around here; I thought for certain what you wanted was related to you trying to return home, unless finding these people means you're doing just that."

"Unfortunately, I don't think returning home is an option anymore. I'll be going to Patch to presumably start a new life there, but that's beside the point. It's imperative for me to find these people, or at least know of their general whereabouts and what they're up to."

Junior scratched his chin.

"You're being really vague, you know... Is it really necessary to be this secretive about your life?"

"I'm aware. I'm afraid I can't ( _won't_ ) give any more details about where I come from, what I do, who these people are, and why I want to keep information on them."

Junior looked wary.

"If you happen to run across a loud blonde boy around my age named Naruto, then let me know. If someone with strange abilities like mine enter the Vale criminal world, let me know. If you hear about any strange occurrences or events on the news that don't seem to add up, let me know. For example, the volcano eruption in Atlas that occurred recently."

"What's so special about a volcano eruption?"

"Does that seem like a place where a volcano eruption would occur, let alone get out of hand?"

Junior seemed at a loss for words.

"Are you saying that... whoever you're looking for _caused_ that?" Junior's mind ran wild, but he was drawing on the fact that the boy in front of him had an unnatural control over sand.

"That event may or may not have anything to do with the people I'm looking for. But it's events like those that are reported on the news that I will be paying attention to. "Natural" disasters, strange occurrences, even attacks on villages that seem particularly unusual."

"I guess I can do that. Before you leave kid, go and pick yourself a scroll plan. We wont' be able to contact each other otherwise, but I'll keep my eyes peeled on the streets and news. In the meantime, I may eventually have you do some more jobs for me. Big, important jobs that will require your abilities. Your employment at my bar was short-lived, but you've got a more important job now. We're a partnership from now on, and I treat my business partners like I do my family. I hope you'll come to do the same..."

Junior held out his hand for Gaara to shake. He stared at it a moment and frowned, hesitating before he too raised his right arm and shook the career criminal's hand.

* * *

Patch was a peaceful little island. It had its fair share of Grimm like any place in the world, but if there was ever a place to raise a family, Patch was it. It's island status meant that few new common land-based Grimm would appear on its shores, and it's close proximity to Vale's capital and its boasting of the combat school Signal meant that it was never short on protectors. The Grimm there knew to refrain from attacking Patch's settlements, as they have learned over the years, and Grimm attacks were scarce.

Gaara's afternoon walk through the backwoods of Patch was uneventful, the most uneventful time he had had since he woken up so far in the future. The Scroll in his pocket jostled back and forth with every step he took, until he came to a humble little cabin deep in Patch's woods.

Gaara had seen the school first hand, though he hadn't set foot on its grounds yet.

He stepped onto the grass onto the property of the home, going up to the porch and giving a quiet knock on the front door. For a few seconds, there was no noise from within, until Gaara heard from seemed like a young girl talking. After some rustling from inside, there was a man talking in a somewhat quieter, muffled voice.

The lock on the door gave a click before the door creaked open, and Gaara was greeted to the sight of a big, beefy blonde man on the other side. He gave Gaara a curious look before calling over his shoulder.

"Right, right! Just a second, Ruby!" he yelled, before turning back to Gaara, "Can I help you?" he asked Gaara, never lowering his guard completely but looking at ease talking to a boy who seemed only slightly older than his first daughter.

"Are you Taiyang Xiao Long?" Gaara asked.

"The one and only!"

"I was told you could direct me to a Qrow Branwen..."

A spark of understanding flashed through Taiyang's eyes, and he recalled the conversation he had had with his brother-in-law a while back about the encounter the latter had in the desert.

"Dad! Who's at the door?" another girlish voice, but slightly deeper than the one Gaara had heard earlier called. Unlike last time, Taiyang didn't call back with an answer, instead keeping his eyes on Gaara.

"Ah, I think he told me about you. Yes, Qrow happens to be my brother-in-law; if you're here he probably told you to find him on Patch but gave vague directions in doing so. I'm sorry to say but Qrow isn't on the island right now. More often than not when the school year isn't in session he's out in the field for his job as a huntsman..."

"I see. I will wait until his return. When will he be back on the island?"

Taiyang chuckled.

"Ah, I'm sorry for my brother-in-law. He leaves me with his unattended business; I should've known he would've done something like this to you. He won't be back until the school year starts, months from now. But, if it's regarding enrollment at Signal, I am also a teacher there and would be more than happy to discuss that. Qrow seems to have given a good score on your abilities..."

"I'm not here to talk enrollment into your huntsmen academy. I came to Patch to build a new life..." Gaara replied. Taiyang raised an eyebrow; there was nothing wrong in his mind with not wanting to follow the path of a huntsman. It wasn't for everyone after all, but why go to the trouble of following Qrow's lead if this boy had no intention of following it?

"I see. Well, I'm disappointed. Humanity could always use more protectors, and we make sure all the promising young minds get the best in education. We can't force you, but I have to ask, why look for Qrow if you just intended to tell him no?"

"I will not be going to school..."

In reality, Gaara had never ever been to school in the first place. The Suna academy hadn't exactly been a place for a Jinchuuriki like him; even before the Yashamaru incident his father had never planned to enroll him. After, and the thought was unthinkable.

"I am here for another reason, however. I am here to offer my services..."

"Excuse me?" Taiyang said.

Taiyang slouched to the side, leaning against his door frame as he gave a heavy sign not out of place, being the stressed out father of two rambunctious girls that he was.

"Would you like to come inside?" Taiyang asked, "We can discuss this more away and out of the cold." Taiyang opened his door wider and welcomed Gaara into his home, an action Gaara felt was far too trusting especially with two young daughters.

Nevertheless, this man was also a fully trained huntsman and obviously felt he could handle himself. Gaara nodded and stepped into the living room of the house. It was a cozy little abode, the decorations giving it the same aesthetic as the woods that surrounded them.

He could hear the pitter-patter of feet coming from down the hall, and he blinked as a girl around his age or slightly younger rounded the corner and came into view, walking towards him.

This must've been one of his daughters that he was talking to from the awning. She had the same blonde hair albeit slightly brighter and shinier and pulled into two long pigtails. Her lilac eyes were looking at him curiously.

"Dad, who's this?" she asked at her father who was closing their front door.

"Just someone related to huntsman business, Yang. Take your sister and go play outside for a moment; I need to talk to our guest in the kitchen..." Taiyang said.

Yang gave Taiyang a weird look, before she shrugged and ran up the stairs. When his oldest daughter was out of the way, Gaara led Gaara into the kitchen.

"Please, take a seat," he said hospitably. Gaara obliged and pulled a chair up, with Taiyang opting to lean against his counter with his arms crossed.

"Alright, spill it. What are these "services" you seem to be offering?" Taiyang asked, his tone all but indicating that he was merely humoring Gaara.

"My services are my fighting ability and willingness to take any job. I will not enroll in school, but your brother-in-law himself can attest that I am already adept enough in combat. There is no need for us to go through this song and dance; myself going to school will merely be a waste of everyone's time, least of all my own."

"So what you're saying is you want to skip the boring old schoolwork and go straight to graduation?"

Gaara blinked.

"I don't care about graduation either. I just want the ability to take jobs with you people. I can give you a demonstration if you like to prove I am worthy..."

"That's not the point!" Taiyang grunted, his face sour, "You telling me this makes me wonder why Qrow recommended you in the first place. It seems you don't know the first thing about what being a huntsman means!"

"And what does it mean?"

Taiyang held his hands up and grimaced.

"Look, it's not that simple. There's more to being a huntsman than knowing how to fight; we don't just certify as a huntsman everyone who can throw a punch and chew gum at the same time and that's why. Being a huntsman is a state of mind as much as anything, and if you can't understand that then that's what's _really_ wasting your time."

Gaara blinked, and Taiyang was a little creeped out by just unphased

"You seem like a good kid who just needs to gain a little more understanding and open up more to the possibility. If Qrow vouches for you, then the invitation to join a combat school and later an academy is still open. But we can't just up and make you a huntsman and we certainly can't give you a huntsman's job. We've never made exceptions before and we're not going to start now..."

Gaara rose from his seat.

"It's not his job, but every once in a while Qrow finds a prospect that he gets enrolled. He's almost like an unintentional talent scout. It's a shame you don't have much interest, but if you change your mind you can drop by the school and can fill out the paperwork for your enrollment."

"Very well," Gaara replied. His eyes panned to the side, where he saw Taiyang's two daughters peeking around the doorway into the kitchen. There was of course the blonde Yang from before, but also a younger, pale, dark-haired girl.

Gaara gave a curt nod to Taiyang and exited the kitchen, Ruby and Yang backing up as he did so. He gave a deadpan look at them and Ruby squeaked, hiding behind her older sister unnerved.

Taiyang appeared in the living room and watched as Gaara saw himself out. He eyed his younger daughter who looked up at him with those big, innocent silver eyes.

"Daddy, who was that?" the nine-year old asked, as the front door closed softly.

"Nobody, hun. Just one of Uncle Qrow's associates that he wanted to enroll at school. He was just a little lost, and I don't think he wanted to be a huntsman anyway..."

Ruby tilted her head.

"Who wouldn't want to do help people?" Ruby asked innocently.

Taiyang smiled; his youngest daughter was so pure. She reminded him so much of Summer it was uncanny.

"That's... a difficult question to answer, kiddo. Some people don't have the mentality to do such a thing. It's a dangerous job, only for those who feel they risk everything for their sense of duty..."

"Oh..." Ruby said, slightly dejected as her silver eyes stared at the door that Gaara had just gone through, "That boy, something about him. I didn't like it..." she said.

Taiyang raised an eyebrow. His little Ruby was a socially awkward girl who could be distant with people, but it was rare for her to take an instant wariness for any one individual in particular.

"Oh? It seemed he could be a little prickly and was kind of odd-looking, was that it?" he asked fatherly.

Ruby shook her head.

"No... it's just... I don't know."

* * *

As the sun began to set, Gaara checked into a motel in Patch's largest town with some of the pay that Junior had provided him. As he sat on the bed, he turned on the television and prepared for the usual sleepless night to come.

The meeting with Taiyang hadn't exactly gone according to plan. In coming here, he had never planned on enrolling in school in the first place. He didn't want to be a huntsman, or least he didn't want the _official title_ of huntsman.

What he wanted was access to their information network. It was why he had worked for Junior fleetingly, why he had taken the job with Torchwick, and why he planned to keep contact with Junior. He was gaining trust in Vale's criminal community and in doing so was getting more and more access into their information network.

There were bound to be things that the criminal community didn't know, however. Getting access to the huntsman network and covering all his bases was the next step. They weren't the military, but they seemed to be the closest thing this new world had to what a shinobi was. Their information network compared to Junior's would be like comparing the ninja information network to the civilian one.

The gears began turning in Gaara's mind to formulate a new plan. An unamused frown pursed his lips. He had two goals in this world, eke out a new existence and find Naruto and the other Jinchuuriki. The third more distant one was to find a way back home, but that would involve traveling through time so it was on the back of his mind.

Gaara stood up and shut off the television. Perhaps it was time to enroll in Signal, anyway? He wanted the information network, it was a way to eke out a new existence; he could still remain in contact with Junior, and there was probably a way for prospective students to be housed. But a huntsman had already taken an interest in him, and he didn't want to be revealing of his true nature on Remnant. He wanted to be all take and no give with the huntsmen, and something told him they would want to take back. Entering that community would raise questions if allowed people to get too close to him.

A Jinchuuriki in the Elemental Countries was a curse. They were weapons to the village governments and feared by the general populace. For the first time in his life, he could live without that status, and he had no faith that the new world would be any different if they learned of his status.

He would enroll as a huntsman. He would not allow them to know of his nature.

* * *

And we're done here.

One of the themes for this story I've mentioned is how the Jinchuuriki adjust to the new world around them. Gaara does it a lot better than Naruto, but one of the major themes of the story is how the Jinchuuriki keep everyone at a distance. Gaara too, though that shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Will that change as time goes on. Well, you'll have to wait and see.

Oh, and no more author's notes at the top. A few chapters ago I introduced the concept that Naruto and some of the other Jinchuuriki are hearing voices that almost seem to be someone else's memories. Any guesses on what they could mean? Here's a hint: it has to do with a very powerful being on Remnant, and is related to the plot. But why would the Jinchuuriki be hearing this?

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	16. Mistral

_I have a limited power of creation over this place, but everything I do seems artificial after taking another look at it._

 _-Unknown_

* * *

Chapter 16: Mistral

 _I'm never getting out of here..._

There it was again, the same strange dreams that Han had mentioned. They had been happened periodically throughout the weeks he had been travelling with Neptune and Arslan. They weren't recurring, but there were similarities every time. Namely, they were like little snippets of someone else's memory, and never long enough for him to really figuring what they were about.

This latest one was just a feeling of despair, as he lied on the ground in an evergreen forest in a locale that he didn't recognize. The person whose eyes he was looking through, was it himself? It didn't seem like it, but he felt a connection with their suffering at least.

They bothered him, but they were never long or lucid enough to leave a lasting impact into the waking world beyond some contemplation. Every time he had one, he would sit up in his sleeping bag and ponder it for a few minutes, but he never got any answers. It was getting to the point where he felt he shouldn't dwell on it at all; no amount of thinking was going to get him closer to what it meant.

But the fact that another Jinchuuriki in Han _knew_ he would start having these was bothering him above all else. He could try and track the Gobi down and get some answers, but things were about to get a lot more hectic, anyway. He didn't have the time to dwell on these things, since it was yesterday they had first laid eyes on the gates to the kingdom of Mistral.

The place was amazing even before he and his companions even stepped foot in the city. It was build into a mountain, which honestly was to be expecting since they had been traversing mountainous terrain for the past week or so. For the past few days they have witnessed numerous airships flying overhead. Naruto balked the first time he saw one, just starting dumbly at the sky with his mouth open.

They were all converging on the same place, and when the three travelers got there they were ushered in with some other refugees and travelers by wall patrol. Apparently, the Kingdom of Mistral had a pretty loose policy on refugees, so after not much fuss they were turned loose inside the walls.

With the inside of the kingdom's capital he was reminded so much of home, just in the style of architecture and dress of the people. Well, in some ways at least. It was surprising; the clothing everyone seemed to wear was often only formal garb back home and definitely not something a shinobi would wear, and the architecture wasn't really used in a military village like Konoha but rather in other cities throughout Hi no Kuni.

Beside him, he could see there was a spark of familiarity and wariness in Neptune's eyes about having to return to the place of his birth, but Arslan was genuinely starstruck by the size and sights of the capital city after growing up in that muddy little village. Naruto was concerned about his two new friends, but for the last few days it was mostly about Neptune.

Neptune had been quiet ever since they had they had witnessed the first airship flying overhead, and had gotten quieter still when they set eyes on the city for the first. Once they got through the gates, he started rubbing his left hand for a reason Naruto didn't know. Every so often he would take a glance at one of the stalls or businesses set up in the area, before retreating into himself and going back to what he was doing. He was trying not to be seen.

Naruto let it be; he was just happy to get out of the wild and the multiple Grimm attacks that happened every day. He could tell Arslan was as well; even beyond all she had been through lately he could tell that she had never been under so much stress just from the Grimm attacks alone.

They were all just so exhausted, Neptune and Arslan in particular. They had never seen so many Grimm in their life; it would explain why they were so subdued and put out, but Neptune's attitude seemed to get worse the closer they got to Mistral. Arslan couldn't believe he preferred to stay out there and contend with Grimm.

"Neptune?" Naruto called to the dazed Neptune, "Neptune!" he yelled louder, snapping the blue-haired boy from his little world. Naruto looked at him and shook his head, before putting on a smile.

"Come on, guys!" he said to ease the mood, "We need to get to the upper quarter where all the nobles live. Lady Fall gave me her the address to her manor and you two have to show her your stuff.

Neptune looked at him with relief, thrilled about being able to get out of the lower quarters. The nobles all lived in their own quarters, up above in their manors that had been built into the mountains. The ne'er do wells in the lower quarters didn't typically wander into the upper quarters. There were too many consequences if one did wrong to a member of the nobility.

It was a short airship ride later until they were in the upper quarters and away from the plebeians of the kingdom and the general crime that lurked in the lower levels of Mistral.

Like any kingdom, the nobles' quarters were going to be a lot nicer than anywhere else. Naruto had seen the manors on the mountain from a distance away, but getting in close told him how extravagant they really were.

Haven Academy was up here too, the academy grounds in a separate location from the manor's and taking up a lot of the available space in these narrow mountain peaks.

As they walked along the impeccably clean streets of the quarter, the people they saw were dressed in clothes more befitting the nobility. It was even comparable to Naruto's home; he swore he saw formal kimonos and the like from the do-well rich folk walking around.

He was trying to take in all the sights of the kingdom as he could, his blue eyes sparkling with childish curiosity in both and lower and upper quarters. For the lower quarters, it was amount of people. For the upper quarters, it was the extravagance and perfection the quarter seemed to bring. Meanwhile, Neptune was just keeping his eyes trained to the ground and ducking as if he were trying to avoid being seen again albeit for entirely different reasons, and Arslan seemed lost in thought. Both were still profoundly quiet.

"This is it..." Naruto said, as he stood in front of a manor that reminded him of something that a daimyo would live in, "496," he said, reading the address of big, gold characters.

There were no guards on sight like Naruto imagined a manor might have, and the gate was unlocked as the three kids strolled right along the dirt path up to the front door. Tall, perfect hedges blocked their view of what was no doubt a large garden on the other side. They made their way up the steps, Arslan looking memorized by the golden lion effigies flanking the top of the staircase.

Naruto grabbed the knocker on the door after his subpar height just barely allowed him to reach it, and knocked forcefully three times. The door reverberated with heavy thudding pounds, loud enough to be heard in this giant manor.

They stood there in silence for about thirty seconds, until the heavy front double doors were opened with effort from someone on the inside. On the other side there was a man in his forties in a suit and tie, clearly a butler or servant.

"And you children are?" he asked curtly but not impolitely. He didn't seem unaccustomed to seeing children knocking on the front door of the manor. He almost seemed to know who they were already.

"We're..." Neptune spoke this time, "We're applicants for Sanctum Academy. We wish to speak to the Lady."

The man merely blinked.

"But of course. Do you have an appointment?"

"Well, not exactly. We were traveling to Mistral to outside the borders and had no idea how long it would take to get here. We came here with getting an appointment one of our goals in mind. My friend here talked to the Lady over the scroll and she said that we were welcome to take the test, whatever that could be..."

"I see. So you wish to set an appointment. Usually that is done through the Lady's work scroll, but I will give her a ring. Please, come in and take a seat in the living room. Lady Fall will be with you shortly."

The butler opened the door wider before stepping off to the side and bowing to them. Naruto walked in first with Neptune behind him and Arslan taking up the rear. He looked around in amazement; if the outside looked similar to home then the inside was about as foreign as it could to his native land.

The butler pointed them to the living room, and Naruto wasn't able to get an entirely good look at the decor on the wall in the foyer, but as they walked down the hallway he took note of the suits of armor as well as the paintings and tapestries lining the wall.

The living room was cozy, with more paintings and decorations lining the walls. The light was dim with only a roaring fireplace in the center of the room, and a series of plush armchairs and sofas littering the room.

"Please, take a seat and please do not touch any of the Lady's possessions," the butler said, "I will return with Lady Fall momentarily." The butler let them alone in the room as Arslan and Neptune took a seat on the sofa. Naruto remained standing, walking around the room and looking at the various odds and ends of the decorations with a wide, curious smile.

"Well, we're finally here," Arslan said, relief coating her voice even as the tension remained. She stared right at Naruto when she said that; Neptune was too busy trying to make himself appear as small as possible.

"Yeah!" Naruto turned around, pausing to stare at Arslan, "Whatcha thinkin' right now? You finally happen to be within the walls and away from all the Grimm?"

Arslan smiled a peculiar smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"In a way..."

* * *

"Sorry about this, Professor."

It was in the firepit in her own backyard where Professor Alice Liddell's body burned away into nothing from a powerful Katon jutsu, after her life functions had faded.

There was no sign of a struggle beyond a small pool of blood on the Professor's kitchen floor. It was a hit to the back at the subclavian artery with a kunai. It was as quiet a kill as possible, made possible by the Fuinjutsu wrapped around the kunai to increase its killing power and get through that pesky aura.

To the neighbors, it just looked like she was having herself a fire in her backyard, and they wouldn't have noticed the tall, slender blonde woman pocket her wallet, her house keys, and anything else on the now deceased woman that would infer her identity.

Nii Yugito pulled up a chair and watched the fire burn away, and with it all remnants of the true Professor Liddell, deputy headmistress of Haven Academy. One of Leo Lionheart's closest confidantes, and the one she had been targeting to replace all this time.

She put her hands into a seal, and upon the puff of smoke that was released there was an altogether new woman where the Nibi Jinchuurki had just been sitting. Amazing what the basic Henge could do in a world that wasn't aware of its existence.

A silent kill and the killer takes her place. Basic and easy, even if the target was one of the most powerful warriors in the kingdom and in a lofty position of power.

Yugito fiddled with a strand of her new hair; it was blonde just like her old one. For starters, the woman seemed to be around the same age as her own twenty-seven years, and a look into her wallet at the birthday on her ID indicated she was a only a year off of that assumption. Being the second most powerful huntress at the kingdom's prestigious academy at the age of twenty-eight. Well, there were plenty of prodigies in the ninja world themselves.

Yugito was a platinum blonde, this new hair was more golden and hung down to her shoulders instead of in the neat ponytail that Yugito kept hers in. She wore civilian clothes, obviously suited for just being at home.

Pictures in her living room seemed to show her in her work attire, a sky blue set of armor and combat boots. Her weapon was apparently the scimitar that was strapped to her back in the photo.

She looked around her new kitchen, thinking to herself about how this was going to be her new home for a while after taking the other woman's identity. It was clearly upper scale given the lofty professor's salary, but Liddell clearly lived alone, just like Yugito.

The woman's scroll was sitting on the countertop, untouched during the entire affair. She fiddled with the device until the blue light shone in the darkness and the scroll became active.

A treasure trove of information was right at her fingertips, but what she was looking for would not be in a text message or the recording of a scroll call. She opened up the contacts list, and began scrolling through picture after picture.

She passed a photo of what appeared to be a middle-aged noblewoman, read some names that were fellow faculty at Haven Academy, before she got to the one she wanted. The Headmaster himself.

The new school semester started in under a month, to which she would go to there and resume work with her "colleagues". It would be strange to pop in and talk to hew new "boss" right now, especially with questions about what happens in the secret brotherhood she was now a direct part of.

She carried the scroll over to the living room, admiring the arrangements that Liddell had set up within her own home. She grinned at the comfortable looking recliner before crashing onto it and kicking her feet back. She wiggled her transformed toes and continued looking through the scroll before shutting it off.

She could get used to this, but she couldn't afford to sit around and disappear completely. This was just the first step in a really long process in which getting close to Haven's headmaster was only the first leg of a marathon.

* * *

Tremaine Fall was a bit of an enigma amongst the Mistralian nobility.

A woman in her early 50s, Lady Fall had always been taken by Vale and Atlas culture over her native Mistral. Although the architecture of her home resembled a typical Mistrali manor, the interior was decorated with something more out of Atlas.

She sat in her office, looking over new applicants for the upcoming school year. She stole glances every once and a while at the person seated in the plush chair right in front of her desk.

"Do I make myself clear, Cinder?" she asked, putting down her paper and leveling a firm glare at her daughter. Cinder Fall looked ahead at her mother with a glazed look and a serene smile on her face.

"Of course, mother..." her voice light but underneath it all a smarminess that only her mother could pick up on. It was a sign that she wasn't listening to her. Tremaine sighed.

"I don't understand why you feel the need to do this. You are one year away from graduation at Haven; you've got top marks in your class, a pair of parents that love you, numerous suitors, and the best group of friends that anyone could hope for. You've known Henry since you two were five. Why would you lead the poor boy on like that?"

"Oh, it's not Henry's fault. He was a good friend, but that's all he should have been: a friend. He just... didn't understand what I wanted from a relationship, so I had to let him go..."

Tremaine folded her hands on her desk and leveled another stern glare at Cinder. Raising her had been an experience, and even as a young adult she had still not grown up in many ways. She was like something from "I was a Mistralian Snob" regarding the stereotypical nobility of their kingdom, but beyond that Tremaine was worried about the little devious glint in her eye.

Had she spoiled her too much? She tried to be as caring as a mother could be to her only offspring. She had seen the ways some of her fellow nobles, even friends, brought up their children. They were either spoiled rotten or led by domineering, authoritarian parents. That upbringing and how it perpetuated led to the sordid reputation of the Mistral nobility over the years, but she was always having none of it. Her husband, bless his heart, tended to delve into spoiling his only daughter, but there was always something else afoot here with Cinder.

At the age of fifteen, in the midst of her Sanctum years, Cinder Fall was diagnosed with Narcisistic Personality Disorder. No amount of good parenting would do anything about that, but Tremaine had tried her best regardless in the attempt that it would help.

"Cinder, this needs to stop! Everyone around you, you treat like dirt and expect the world back from. Your friends, your on-and-off boyfriends, your peers, your teachers, even your father. When are you going to grow up?"

"When the world decides to grow up as well."

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Tremaine asked. Cinder gave her a coy smile.

"Nothing, mother..." she said silkily.

There came a knock at the office door, and Tremaine gave a small sigh before putting on the best smile and happiest tone she could.

"Come in~" she sang.

One of the manor's servants cracked open the door and poked his head in nervously, flinching when his eyes fell on the two women in the room. Cinder frowned while Tremaine smiled warmly and gestured him to continue.

"Um... Lady Fall, you have guests waiting in the foyer. One of them said something about combat school business; he says that you gave him the address to the manor and would sponsor them if they could pass your aptitude test."

"Oh! Of course, of course, of course! Thank you, dear..." she said warmly yet briskly, rising to her seat. Her gaze became colder as it lingered on her daughter.

"We'll discuss this again later, Cinder..." she said, "I have to take this."

She exited the hallway, and the first thing she noticed when she stepped into the living room and saw the three kids sitting there was how out of place and uncomfortable they looked just being there. Clearly, none of them were from wealthy backgrounds.

Tremaine gave them a polite smile, trying to ease the nerves of the children as she went and sat down in her posh armchair. She smiled lightly at a nearby servant, who knew all he needed to by the gleam in her eyes. Hurriedly, he rushed on down the hall.

"Hello... I'm sorry, you must forgive me. As a wealthy patron of Mistral academia both combat and non-combat, I schedule appointments with many prospective students looking to enroll in Sanctum. Who are you three?"

"My name is Neptune Vasilias..." the blue-haired boy said from his seat on the sofa, bowing politely to the noblewoman.

"Arslan Altan," Arslan mumbled.

"And I'm Naruto!" the last of the bunch introduced eagerly, pointing a thumb backwards at himself confidently. The Mistral noblewoman drummed her fingers against the fabric of her chair.

"I don't believe I've heard the names before. Are you sure we have spoken?" she asked politely.

Naruto's grin faltered. She seemed nice, but he wasn't sure if any of them could trust this woman yet. She was a sponsor for the Clover Troupe after all, but was she aware of all the shady dealings of van Klaver or did she think she was just funding a wholesome circus act?

"We're employees from the Clover Troupe," he said, catching Neptune and Arslan's eyes. There was a flash of understanding; they were all aware of the alibi they were going to use. They couldn't let Tremaine know that Klaver was compromised and his circus destroyed by them... _yet._

When Naruto responded, Tremaine's eyes lit up with understanding.

"Oh! Oh, of course! You're the boy I talked to over a scroll call one day. The three orphan dears who found themselves working for Otto in the circus. I see you made it to Mistral after all!"

Naruto smiled in relief, as did the other two.

"So..." Tremaine crossed her arms, "Let's get down to business. The three of you wish to attend Sanctum and eventually Haven, is that correct?" she asked, peering down from her spectacles.

"Ah! Not me, just these two."

Tremaine raised an eyebrow and gave Naruto a suspicious once over.

"Oh, that's right, that's right. I do believe I remember you mentioning that over the scroll. Normally, I take kids upon appointments, but as a patron of the schools I consider this like my job. No time like the present! You two..." she said, addressing Neptune and Arslan who were seated on either side of Naruto.

"Are you ready to take my aptitude tests?"

* * *

Naruto frowned as he found himself seated in a waiting chair outside the door to the Fall family's dojo. Neptune and Arslan had already gone inside, and with him being the only one not seeking application left him with nothing to do while they were being tested.

Naruto twiddled his thumbs and crossed his feet; he hadn't had to sit still like this since the academy. He was trying to find some way to amuse himself and opted to stare at the opulent decorations lining the hallways. But with every lull in his attention span sucked him back into the boredom, and the boredom caused his mind to wander places.

Thinking about home... it had taken several weeks to get from Catalhoyuk to within the kingdom's walls. A feeling of unease settled in his gut, thinking about the effects his disappearance would have on Konoha.

Every thought was more worrying than the last. One daydream involved him being labelled a nuke-nin and hunted down, while another was just a montage of the worried faces of his friends.

He looked up when something echoed throughout the large hallways; it sounded like high heels clinking against the wooden floor. Naruto turned as the sound was getting closer, looking up to see who was coming near.

Naruto was drawn to the way she seemed to sashay her way down the hallway. Naruto felt heat rise into his feet as he gave the woman heading his way a once over.

Her hair hung short, but still remarkably feminine and shiny. She was garbed in a red, v-neck dress that hung off shoulders with gold designs running down the sleeves. Her long, creamy legs left bare by her outfit carried her down the hallway, and the clinking was made by her high heels.

A coy smirk was set on her face as her amber eyes danced as they turned their gaze on him. Naruto tried to make the blush on his face recede, but as the beautiful young woman got closer his mind and body seemed to betray him.

"Good afternoon..." she said, in a deep, svelte voice that made a tingle run down Naruto's spine. He seemingly turned to mush in his seat, slumping down as he tried to babble something out in his incoherence.

"H-Hi..." Naruto coughed out.

"What's your name?" she asked the adolescent, speaking to him like the younger boy he was.

"N-Naruto..."

Cinder's amber eyes sparked with recognition.

"Naruto? What an interesting name," she said, mulling the name over her tongue, "Aren't you just adorable?" she cooed, making Naruto slump down in his seat more as his face turned completely beet red.

"Are you hear because you are an applicant to Sanctum Academy?"

Naruto shook his head vigorously, not even making eye contact with Cinder.

"Friends are... in there. I won't go back to school."

"Oh, such a shame," Cinder paused, "Cinder Fall, pleasure to meet you. Lady Tremaine Fall is my mother. I am here to assist in her aptitude tests and see if your friends are ready to attend Sanctum. I believe my mother in in there right now talking to your friends. If you're feeling up to it, you should talk to my mother after their tests have concluded. If you don't want to go back to school but still wish to take up a combat-oriented career..." Cinder's eyes trailed to the weapons pouch Naruto had on him, "Then she may be able to assist you anyway."

Naruto looked at her oddly.

"It was nice meeting you, Naruto. I hope we may chat again very soon. But, if you'll please excuse me..." she gave a noble curtsy that somehow seemed faux because entering the dojo.

Naruto just stared ahead.

* * *

And we're done here.

A short chapter, this is sort of the introductory phase of the next arc. I'm treading very lightly right now, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to release this one yet. In canon RWBY, I think we may be getting very close to seeing Cinder's backstory. Just a feeling I'm having, it's just poor timing that I'm getting around to this part of the story now.


	17. Arslan's Folly

_I am never getting out of here._

 _-Unknown_

* * *

Chapter 17: Arslan's Folly

"So, Miss Altan, is it?" Tremaine began the conversation with Arslan as if she were a boss addressing a potential interviewee, but the warm tone always in her voice belayed her cold and professional words.

Arslan nodded.

"You can relax, dear. I'm not judging your entire future or worth, am I? This is just a friendly test to make sure I can be confident that you are huntress material and more importantly that this line of work isn't too dangerous and would lead to an early death. I'll be asking you a few questions first and then you'll take the physical part of the test, which will be sparring with my daughter so I can gauge your skillset and ability."

Arslan looked up at her, distraught at that last bit of news. But she said nothing, holding her tongue while they were going through this test. Tremaine either didn't seem to notice or was already testing her on her demeanor and observing silently.

"Shall we begin?"

Arslan nodded timidly.

"Okay, question one. Why do you want to become a huntress? Huntsmen and huntresses are protectors of our world, slaying Grimm but more importantly always helping their fellow man. It is not an occupation one should consider lightly; it is not only dangerous but full of immense responsibility."

Arslan looked down. She hadn't given that much thought into the philosophies of the huntsmen. She had heard the tales; huntsmen were regarded as heroes in most parts of the world, even out in the boonies where she had grown up. Remnant was full of fairy tales and legends that people tried to pass off, and ever since the huntsmen academies had shown up a fair amount of tall tales featuring Huntsmen were told. They were so fantastical that no one could tell if they were true or not, but they were passed off as true.

Whatever the case, she was about to enter that world headfirst. Tremaine's remark rang true.

"I saw my village get destroyed by Grimm..." Arslan began, leaving the part where it was orchestrated by a group of humans, "In one night. We had always tried to live our lives out there. It was never enough, but we made do with what we had. My father was killed in the attack. He was always there to protect me, like any parent would. After the attack, Neptune, Naruto, and I packed up with some of the survivors. They were killed in a... bandit attack that was more disgusting than even the Grimm could manage. I did nothing in both attacks, just allowing other people to protect me. I came to the kingdom as a refugee, but I'm also ready to start making a difference."

Tremaine didn't smile, but she didn't look particularly disappointed in the answer either. With a face as neutral as stone, she scribbled something down in her notes. Arslan hoped that this interview wouldn't carry on for very long; the quiet scratching of the pen against the paper would've driven her mad before long.

"Next question. What do you feel you can give the world as a huntress?"

"My all." Arslan said simply, refusing to elaborate on that further. Tremaine looked at her strangely, as if she was actually expecting her to elaborate, but Arslan didn't continue so the awkward tension hung over the room for a few seconds before Tremaine budged first.

"Third, should I sponsor you, you will receive a full scholarship for four years at Sanctum Academy and four years at Haven. Will you dedicate yourself to your studies to the best of your ability?"

"Yes."

Tremaine finished scribbling down something in her notes, and Arslan sighed in relief as she put down and was seemingly done asking her questions.

" _That was it? A mere three questions?"_

"I see. As you can see, these questions are merely preliminary in nature and that is why they are few. You will have to fill out more information in your actual application to Sanctum, but there is one more important thing I'd like you to do. I'd like you to spar with my daughter Cinder. She is finishing up her final year at Haven and will test you on your current combat ability. Defending the world is a very dangerous occupation after all. I need to see if you are up to it."

Arslan gulped; this was the part she was not looking forward to but she knew was coming. Tremaine was giving her an expectant look, and Arslan wondered if her lack of a visible weapon stood out.

Still, her hands clenched into fists as she realized it was time to utilize what her father had taught her. While Tremaine had been asking her questions, the door to the dojo had opened. In had come Cinder, who took a seat at the end of the room outside of Tremaine's office while the two were talking.

Tremaine got up from her seat, as did Arslan after some hesitation.

"Cinder!" she called out to her daughter, but when she reentered the dojo proper, the young woman was already on her feet. Arslan followed up upon the rear.

"I'm going to use your spar with Cinder to determine your combat aptitude. I'll have her hold back somewhat," she cast a glare at her daughter, "but you allowed to use any weapon of choice, as is she."

Arslan gulped, " _She already pulled out her freakin' weapon! Is she looking forward to thrashing me?"_ She steeled herself and got into her normal stance. " _Okay, just calm down. Remember everything father taught you about hand-to-hand combat."_

Tremaine studied her carefully, as did Cinder. Cinder held in each of her hands nasty looking metal blades shaped like a scimitar, and Arslan crept forward while looking very wary of what those could do.

Tremaine got out of the way, standing off to the side. Arslan caught her eye as did Cinder, but she nodded curtly to both as if to indicate that they could begin.

It took a few seconds for either one of them to make a move. Cinder, presiding over the test was content to let Arslan make the first move. But Arslan wasn't one to attack first recklessly in the face of danger.

Cinder leaned forward, smiled, and gave her a beckoning gesture. And Arslan felt the eyes of Tremaine Fall studying her every move and judging her performance. It was time to utilize everything her father had taught her about living in the wilds and fighting.

Arslan gulped, steeled herself, and rushed forward. She threw a punch that Cinder blocked with the end of her blades, Arslan's aura allowing her to punch metal and remain unscathed. Cinder leaped over a sweep kick and backended her with the hilt of her blade when that inevitably left Arslan open.

Arslan slid across the floor for a few feet, straightening herself when she stopped skidding and cocking her arm. She ducked under a sword swing from Cinder, and shot out her arm. A thin rope attached to a dagger shot out from its hiding place in her sleeve, wrapping around Cinder's sword arm. Once Cinder reacted, Arslan shot forward and kicked the woman while her right arm was incapacitated.

Arslan reacted quickly, backflipping into the air while Cinder swung with her other sword. However, a high-heeled boot appeared as if from nowhere and caught the girl in the stomach.

Cinder smiled and put her swords together, forming them into a metal bow that she pulled back while Arslan was careening through the air. She let loose a dust air, amorphous and free-flowing as it began to harden and coalesce into a glass arrow as it flew through the air.

It caught the fabric of her robe and pinned her against the nearby wall. Arslan pushed off, ripping part of her clothes near her shoulder where the arrow had pinned her.

She yelped however a blade came out of nowhere and stuck itself into the wall just inches from where she would've been, and she came face to face with Cinder who was smirking at her. It was quick, it was efficient, and it was done already. Arslan stood rigid after having been thoroughly thrashed by Tremaine's daughter, and a pit formed in her stomach after the abysmal performance.

Tremaine gave two quick claps.

"Alright, that's enough you two! I think I've seen enough to pass her!"

Arslan nearly sputtered.

"W-What? But I got completely destroyed in a matter of seconds!"

Tremaine didn't look surprised or disappointed by what she had seen.

"My daughter is in the final year of her Huntress education; she is essentially a fully trained huntress already. It is no surprise that this would happen. The purpose of your short spar was merely to evaluate what training you have received. You fight with a rope dagger and clearly have some training in hand-to-hand combat. Plenty of huntsmen have eschewed hand-to-hand combat and have become over-reliant on their weapons. As far as I'm concerned, that is an edge you have over other prospective trainees.

"So... I'm in?"

Tremaine smiled.

"You're in! To be honest though, you will have to work hard. I accept almost everyone who I feel at least has the drive, but that doesn't mean that the road ahead of you is easy, my dear. Now..."

Tremaine turned to Neptune, who was sitting out of the way in the corner of the dojo having watched the spar between Cinder and Arslan.

"Your turn, dear."

Neptune rose to his feet, brushed off his red jacket and looked at Tremaine coolly before following her into the dojo's office. He winked at Arslan before he entered but the girl just rolled her eyes. That left Arslan alone in the room with the woman she had just sparred with.

Before long Arslan was sitting in the middle of the dojo, staring ahead as Neptune took his turn with Tremaine in the office.

That left Arslan in the same position Neptune had been in, sitting down in the middle of the dojo quietly as she waited for her companion to complete his initiation.

She was seated on one of the mats off to the side, but she wasn't alone in the room given the nervous glances she was stealing over to her side. Tremaine's daughter was seated on some pillows at the very head of the room, looking no worse for wear after their little spar.

A serene smile adorned her face as she appeared to be meditating and paying no mind, but Arslan couldn't help but feel awkward and inadequate in her presence.

"Lien for your thoughts?" the young woman spoke up suddenly, not even opening her eyes but seemingly not meditating anymore.

Arslan shook her head for an extended period of time, to the point where Cinder had now opened her eyes and was looking directly at her.

"Come on. I can tell something is bothering you. That blonde-haired boy outside you came with is at least showing signs of life; the blue haired boy seems timid in the presence of nobility, but you just seemed completely dejected."

"What do you care?" Arslan asked, with a surprising amount of bite in her voice. Cinder didn't say anything, but raised an eyebrow at the sheer defensiveness in her voice.

Arslan sighed, but Cinder didn't let up.

"You can talk to me. You _have_ to talk to somebody. That attitude of yours is unbecoming of a huntress-in-training. It's like you don't even want to be here. My mother seems to have seen something in you that indicates you would be a fine huntress, but leaving such an attitude to fester can be dangerous. Those who aren't truly dedicated to the creed end up going down dark paths..."

"I felt useless. I wanted to do something to help, but I didn't think it would be going along so quickly. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to be a huntress; I just don't feel as if I have a choice..."

"What do you mean? Why would you feel like you are being forced into the huntress life? If you truly are, my mother would have noticed it. She doesn't take anyone she feels is unprepared."

Arslan felt Cinder's penetrating stare on her, her eyes alight with mild curiosity.

"It's true that I want to make a difference, but it feels like I'm just being dragged along for the ride. My village was attacked. By Grimm mostly, but it was spurred on by those horrible people. But... there was something about that attack. There were too many Grimm, far too many. It's a miracle we even survived. My father was killed, and before I know I'm on a journey to Mistral to become a huntress because I feel like it's the only option I have left. Naruto... he didn't exactly help matters."

"That boy sitting outside you traveled with? What about him?"

"He... he worries me. There's something about him that is just _not right_. When he arrived, he seemed lost but he had no idea how he had gotten here. I hardly know anything about him, where he comes from and who he was before he showed up. He just... appeared one day. He decided to live in our village, but I can tell his mind is elsewhere. He's trying to get home, it seems, but he won't tell me where. But, that's not the worst part. When he got to our village, strange things began happening. It's like he brought a curse onto our village. Grimm attacks increased, and shortly after he arrived the village was attacked and destroyed. I've never seen so many Grimm in my life..."

Arslan took a deep breath, and Cinder was paying rapt attention to her now. A small demented smile found its way onto her face for a second before it disappeared, saying that her interest was piqued.

"Grimm? What about the Grimm?"

"He's... weird. It's sounds awful to say because he saved my life, but ever since he showed up the Grimm have been coming in droves. Even while we were traveling to Mistral they wouldn't stop. It's like he's a magnet for Grimm, and that scares me. He scares me; he can do some crazy things."

"How... peculiar," Cinder said, trying to mask the fact that she was now on the edge of her seat trying to listen to Arslan.

"I just don't know about traveling with him. He seemed really gung-ho about traveling to Mistral. True, there wasn't anywhere else I could go, but it was like he was deciding my path for me. I don't like that, but all that is secondary to all the other stuff I mentioned. He showed up like a harbinger of doom, everything has gone downhill since I met him."

"You don't want anything to do with him?"

"It feels bad, because like I said he saved my life and has taken it on himself to take care of me. But... I don't know what I should do," Arslan said, putting her face in her hands in frustration.

"Cut all contact," Cinder said bluntly.

"W-What?"

"You said it yourself; you don't feel safe around him and you feel controlled by him. I realize he may be doing that unintentionally, but you need to figure out what's best for _you_. You will be heading off and boarded at Sanctum Academy soon. He may have brought you here, but there is no reason for him to be a presence in your life from this point on."

"Are you sure?" she asked, unprepared for the blunt advice the huntress-in-training had given her. It made sense in some ways; once she moved into Sanctum she could reasonably cut off contact with Naruto.

"Absolutely..."

"I-I'll think about it..." Arslan replied, though her answer made Cinder crack a smooth smile that didn't exactly seem innocent. Cinder rested her head on one of her hands and stared at the door to the dojo, where Naruto sat on the other side.

* * *

Naruto grunted as he was awoken suddenly when the door to the dojo opened suddenly, having fallen asleep in his seat while his friends underwent whatever test Tremaine had set up for them.

The person who walked out of the door first was none other than Cinder. She gave him the same coy smile she had when she had entered the room, but her amber eyes will filled with a curiosity that had been lacking before.

She smiled pleasantly at him before turned and taking off down the hall, though warmth failed to reach her eyes. Naruto didn't notice though, as he was too busy trying to force down the stupid grin that threatened to split his face. Someone caught the door before it could close, and Naruto turned his attention off Cinder as his two friends exited the dojo.

Neptune smiled and flashed him a thumb's up, prompting a warm sense of relief and joy to blossom within Naruto as the other boy strolled right up to him and wrapped a jubilant arm around his shoulder.

"We're in, dude! I can't believe it! Full ride to Sanctum and later Haven! It's like a dream come true!"

Naruto laughed along with him, happy for his new friend while feeling that he may have set things right after the attack on Catalhoyuk. While the boys celebrated, the lone girl in the group hung back, lips pursed as she stared at Naruto in particular. She tried not to flinch when Naruto stopped celebrating with Neptune and smiled at her.

"Congrats, Arslan! This must feel amazing, right?"

Arslan forced a grin up, her conversation with Cinder resonating in her ears. Fortunately for her, Naruto didn't seem to notice, though it was because of that why they were in this situation in the first place.

"Yeah... amazing. Could you head inside, Naruto? Lady Fall wishes to speak to you about something..." she responded, getting out of the conversation with Naruto almost immediately.

"Why? I already told her I won't be becoming a huntsman."

Arslan shook her head.

"It's not about that. She says she has another offer to make you, but what it's about she wouldn't tell me."

"As long as it doesn't involve more school..." Naruto grumbled, his back cracking from disuse as he got up from his seat, "Well, I better go see what it is. I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"

Neptune grinned and saluted, but Arslan didn't say anything.

"Yeah! We'll be outside!"

Naruto disappeared into the dojo, spotting the little room off to the side that served as Tremaine's office. The woman flagged him down and waved him in, gesturing for him to take a seat.

Tremaine smiled at him warmly, and Naruto immediately felt relaxed in her presence despite knowing as a ninja to never drop his guard. Unlike Neptune or Arslan's interviews, she wasn't equipped with paper or writing utensils and instead her hands were folded neatly in front of her.

"Naruto, was it?"

Naruto nodded, slightly surly because he felt that she was going to try to talk him into becoming a huntsman. Tremaine noticed, but didn't seem offended at all by it.

"Your friends have proven themselves good enough to earn my sponsorship. They will receive the finest education they can in becoming a protector of this world. You should be happy."

"I _am_ happy! Those two need a win. I was just thinking that you were going to try to talk me into joining a huntsman academy. I thought we established over the scroll that I won't be doing that."

Tremaine pulled a pen out of her prim hair bun and laid it on the table.

"No, dear. I do not force or even try to persuade those who truly do not wish to become huntsmen. But, I did plan on asking what you want to do next? The life of a huntsman is a rigorous one, even in the earliest years of training. You three have traveled together to this point but are about to take separate paths. Do you plan on returning to work for Otto? The tone you took brooked that you wish to see a new avenue, but I can't for the life of me figure out what that would entail..."

Naruto frowned. He wanted to make up for his failure to protect Catalhoyuk, and help get his two new friends' lives back on track. Now that he had reached Mistral, he hadn't thought so far ahead as to what came next. Continue searching for a way home? That was always on the agenda, but should he succeed how hard would be to say goodbye to Remnant. He would have to say goodbye to Neptune and Arslan.

What he would do in the meantime had been lost on him. He didn't have any money or anyplace to go. He had thought of going to Mistral to help in his search, but he didn't have connections and he didn't even know where he was supposed to _begin_ or what he was searching _for._

The Kyuubi was being as unresponsive as ever, which meant the one clue he had was Han. A guy from the Elemental Counties and a fellow Jinchuuriki, but that guy was bad news. He could track him down and demand answers, and was half-tempted to do so.

Naruto was brought out of his thought process when Tremaine began speaking again.

"So, I'd like to make you an offer of something alternative. You seem to have the spark of a warrior in your eye; I can only imagine after defending your village. Huntsmen may have the most prestigious status on Remnant, but they don't have a monopoly on battle. I can think of a path you can follow if you don't wish to become a huntsman, and you're just the right age to start entering into these. I myself have a presence in the regional tournaments that take place in the kingdom. Some of the nobility like to bet on the matches, while other sponsor individuals. Much like I sponsor prospective students to Mistral's huntsman academy, I also am a sponsor for the regional tournaments."

"Regional tournaments?" Naruto asked, perking up for the first time during their conversation. It was admittedly something that Naruto hadn't expected to hear from the woman, but for something in the meantime it didn't seem like a half-bad idea.

"Is this something you might want to do?"

In Naruto's mind, it sure beat going back to school.

"I think I might..." he responded, "Could this be something I could do as a job?"

"Well, several fighters do make a full-time profession of it. In your age bracket, it's often a way to get scholarships or even to be noticed by the Huntsman academy. Winners always get accepted into Beacon, Haven, or the like. Once you reach the next age bracket, it will be up to you to decide if you want to stay and compete."

Naruto hummed in thought. Hopefully, he would home long before he had to make that decision, but he couldn't expect a free ride regarding living expenses for the time being.

"I don't have anywhere else to go, I might as well," Naruto agreed, "Come to think of it, this might be good for me. Tournament fighter, I did a little bit of that back home. Sign me up, lady!" Naruto said, slowly getting more excited at the thought of being a career fighter.

"That's wonderful to hear. I hope you fit right in, but the season doesn't start for another few weeks, around the same time that primary combat schools open their doors again. In the meantime, I'll have you stay in the manor in the servants quarters. If you like, you can assist them with their day-to-day jobs, but don't feel pressured to. I'm sure they would greatly appreciate it."

Naruto and Tremaine sealed the deal with a handshake. Unbeknownst to both of them, a pair of amber eyes were peeking into the office, observing everything said with astute curiosity.

* * *

And we're done here.

Sorry, it's another short one.

 ** _The God of Pikmin_**


	18. The Fox and the Swan

_I'm sleeping better in the grassy field, but I never dream._

 _-Unknown_

* * *

Chapter 18: The Fox and the Swan

 _"And in another display of violence, the once peaceful White Fang has attacked yet another store that employs Faunus labor. This marks the filth attack in what amounts to a new movement in the organization. Back to you, Lisa."_

 _"Thank you, Cyril. In other news, events at the Mistral Regional Tournaments turned dark when one of the key sponsors and one of the most influential people in the kingdom was found dead. The charred remains of Lady Tremaine Fall along with known circus ringleader Otto van Klaver could be found in the ruined remains of her family manor. The fire has been ruled an arson. The leading suspect in the case is one Uzumaki Naruto, an up and coming tournament fighter who Lady Fall personally sponsored. Upon further investigation, the incident was ruled a murder-suicide as it seems that Mister Uzumaki also perished in the blaze. The whereabouts of Lady Fall's daughter and sole heir Cinder Fall are as of yet unknown, though it is believe that she too perished in the fire. Investigations are currently underway, but authorities are baffled at the sheer lack of leads and until further notice the case will be closed until any new leads can be found."_

 _Gaara didn't get surprised often, but in this case it made him drop the remote. He had been watching the news report from his little abode on Patch, reacting with little interest until the second story came up. He perked up when the familiar name hit him, as well as the picture of the friend he knew posing for the camera after a tournament win._

 _He breathed out, his mind beginning to ponder. The news was huge; news about Naruto had been what he was looking for but the context of what had happened couldn't be worse. There was something off though; his ninja intuition was telling him that._

 _Gaara didn't turn off the television, but he tuned out the rest of the news report. After months of going through the same routine and getting adjusted to the student life, it was time for a shake up._

* * *

 _A hooded figure trudged through the snow in Northern Anima, dragging a deer behind him as he made his way back to his campsite. It was one of the most secluded places on the continent, vast wilderness far away from the kingdom's walls._

 _Evergreen trees littered the mountainous landscape, hiding the Grimm and predators that lurked within those branches. But the figure paid the forest no mind, even after hearing countless noises come from within._

 _He arrived at his campsite not a moment later, letting go of the deer carcass near his fire pit. It was a humble little abode, with only his fire pit, and a "workbench" on a nearby stump where he skinned his animals or crafted tools necessary for his life in the wilderness._

 _The warm black cloak he was wearing obscured his face, but that didn't stop the Grimm who came out of the forest and moved toward him with a sense of purpose. One by one, a pack of beowolves emerged from the forest, encircling the campsite. The figure sat down and began to build a fire, uncaring and unthreatened by the Grimm. A roaring fire was alight within seconds, and he grabbed a stick with a clawed hand to begin tending to it._

 _The Beowolves gave a low growl, but they didn't come any closer than ten feet to the huddled figure. One by one, they began to lie down in the snow as if bowing to the figure._

 _And all through this odd affair, Uzumaki Naruto never paid the Grimm any mind. Even as he no longer attracted heavy amounts of Grimm wanting to attack him; they still came to him in droves. But now it was more like his mere presence had tamed the Grimm._

 _His hands raised up to his face, and he peeled back the hood to reveal red eyes and deepened whisker marks._

* * *

 _The Present Day..._

"Welp, this is it..." Naruto said, with an air of finality. Today was the day that Arslan and Neptune would be heading off to their new combat school, and he would going with Tremaine to sign up for the tournaments.

He, Neptune, and Arslan were standing on the steps of the Fall manor, the latter two having large suitcase backpacks strapped to their backs. Naruto stood in the awning of the door, while Cinder had a hand on one of Arslan and Neptune's shoulder, ready to help them move into their dorms for their first day on Sanctum's campus on behalf of her mother.

"You take care of yourself, Naruto. We owe you a lot for helping us get our lives back on track after the incident. I'll be seeing you soon and I'll be sure to get in touch when after we get settled in at Sanctum."

Tremaine crept up behind him from inside, placing her own hands reassuringly on Naruto's shoulders.

"He'll be staying here for the next few weeks while we get him set up with the regional tournaments. You two are free to come see one of the matches anytime."

Arslan avoided eye contact, and Neptune seemed mostly neutral on the idea. An awkwardness fell over the group as the three traveling companions set to break.

"Well... bye!" Neptune said. Cinder led the two prospective students down the stairs to the manor, leaving Naruto alone with Tremaine on her doorstep. Naruto tucked his bottom lip into his mouth and bristled, something that Tremaine picked up on.

"Something wrong? You're going to miss them, aren't you? Don't worry; I'm sure they'll be able to keep in touch with you," she reassured him. Over the past few weeks, Naruto had grown close with the older noblewoman. She looked upon everyone as if she were their mother, treating even those below her in status with the same respect she would an equal.

She had taken him into her own house during a time of need, and for that he would forever be grateful. Neptune and Arslan didn't seem to talk to her much, but Naruto took every opportunity he could to spend time with her.

"Come on, now. Let's head to Vespasian Arena to get you registered, shall we?"

Naruto turned to follow the noblewoman, pausing for a moment to look over his shoulder at the retreating forms of Cinder, Arslan, and Neptune. Pretty soon, he and Tremaine were heading the opposite direction to take an airship to one of the lower districts.

He felt the weight of a paper in his pocket; it was the application for the regional tournaments. As they approached the arena, he was immediately reminded of the Chuunin Exams back home, a big round building that could pack a ton of people into the upper levels.

The young shinobi followed Tremaine into the imposingly large building, entering the concourse as they came across a decently sized line for what was the ticket stand. Tremaine just passed that over however, going to another concession stand with a much shorter line.

She crossed right over the red tape, going right into the VIP line for the booth without batting an eyelash. Naruto fell into line beside her awkwardly, noticing the hushed whispers of the people in the other line next to him.

There was only one other person in the VIP, a stuffy looking nobleman that finished up his business at the booth and allowed Tremaine to step forward. Yet, as she did so, Naruto felt eyes on his back as another person got into line directly behind him.

"Hello, Lady Fall..." the confident female voice said, and Naruto gulped as his instincts were telling him that the woman behind him was staring directly into him, analyzing him.

Tremaine gave a curious hum at being addressed and turned around, a bright smile adorning her face as the spark of recognition entered her eyes.

"Headmistress Liddell! What a pleasant surprise! What brings you here?" the noblewoman asked.

Liddell smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Naruto noticed, but the non-shinobi Tremaine did not. There was something off about this woman with the short blonde hair and twin swords strapped to her back.

It was even more prominent in the way she hesitated for a split-second, as if she were pondering an answer. To a non-shinobi, such a minute detail would be difficult to pick.

"Oh, you know me. Always scouting for potential talent for Haven Academy. This boy a new fighter you're going to sponsor. You have a solid track record with Haven students." she said, locking eyes with Naruto.

"Yes. Naruto, this is Professor Alice Liddell; Deputy Headmistress at Haven Academy and frequent judge of the Regional Tournaments. I imagine you will be seeing her quite a bit once you are enrolled as a fighter. Alice, this is Naruto."

"Naruto, huh?" Liddell hummed, and she fell silent. That silence seemed to bother Tremaine for just a moment, but the polite veneer was back up within a moment's notice.

"I'm afraid that until further notice he won't be attending any combat schools," Tremaine said, almost popping the question that she expected Liddell to ask herself.

"I see..." Liddell shook his head; it was warm and soft, "That is quite a disappointment. Good luck in the tournaments regardless, Naruto. I hope to see you really soon..."

The conversation was seemingly over now that Tremaine bid her farewell and walked up to the booth to talk to the man behind the counter. Naruto fell into step behind her, with Liddell still waiting in line staring ahead.

Before long, he felt her eyes on his back once again.

* * *

"Well, here I am..." Naruto said, looking around the room he had been staying in for the past few weeks. It was a long time since he had slept with a roof over his head. He was used to his rundown apartment in Konoha and two-bit inns while he was on his training trip, and definitely not as nice as room as he was provided in the servants quarter.

" _Even the servants seem to live it up_..."

He, Arslan, and Neptune had been a fixture around the manor for the last few weeks, but now it would be down to just him. He looked around the room somberly; Neptune and Arslan had had rooms of their own but somehow the space already seemed a little lonelier.

He would miss his new friends, but in the back of his mind he knew that he didn't have the same strong reaction as he did to all the people he loved in Konoha.

"I want to go home..." he muttered aloud as he collapsed on his bed and stared at the ceiling. His initiation as a tournament fighter had gone well; he would have his first fight five days from now, his opponent still unclear at this point. But still, it just seemed like he was spinning his wheels at this point.

" **What a mess you are, kid. You're being so damn gloomy and it's making your mind an even more unbearable place to live."** a deep guttural voice resounded in his head.

Naruto's eyes widened, and he burst up from his bed even though his tenant had no presence in the material world. A distraught look crossed his face for a moment before it contorted into one of anger.

"You fox-faced bastard! Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to contact you for weeks but your stupid fatass has been asleep or something?!" Naruto roared, only then realizing that he was speaking aloud at the top of his lungs to no one.

" **Quiet, you little worm. We have much to discuss and I don't have the patience to sit through one of your usual temper tantrums. I'm about to answer many of the questions that have been on your mind, so just shut up and listen!"** the Kyuubi roared.

Naruto simmered down in his frothy rage, but lied back down on his bed trembling and with his teeth grit, remaining quiet to hear out his Bijuu.

" **I was asleep for a while during your first foray into this world, but ever since I woke up I've been keeping an eye on you, and decided that now was a good time as any to contact you. I saw what you were doing trying to take those kids to Mistral. Trying to make up for what happened in the village."**

 **"** What are you talking about?"

" **You didn't notice? No, you definitely did. You were trying to get them a place at one of these ridiculous schools because you felt responsible for what happened, and for ruining that girl's life. She definitely doesn't want anything to do with you, no matter what she says. She fears and resents you."**

A lump formed in Naruto's throat.

 **"** **Did you even bother to ask if she wanted to become one of these huntsmen? Seems to me that you were just leading her around to boost your own ego and self-esteem. How very selfish. Is that how a Hokage is supposed to behave?"**

 **"** How would you know? If Arslan told me she didn't want to go to Mistral, I would've listened. But she seemed willing to go along with the idea..."

" **That's just your own cluelessness. Did she ever seem as enthusiastic as that Neptune boy?** " Kyuubi let the question hang before continuing, " **Regardless, you aren't compatible to form relationships in this world. Even without your cluelessness, the Arslan girl was scared of you. She feared you because of what you are. Did you think things would be any different from Konohagakure? These people may not know about me, but to them you have strange abilities and attract these feeble Grimm monsters. Why wouldn't you be a feared outcast? You may be within safe walls, but how long before you reveal your true nature to them?"**

Naruto had fallen silent for a while now, actually listening to what the Kyuubi had to say. He tried to deny the accusations in his mind, but him being an obvious Grimm attractor had put Arslan through the wringer ever since she met him.

He had spent so long in Konoha trying to gain acceptance, and now he would have to do it in a world where the deck was even more stacked against them. People feared the Kyuubi back home because of the attack, but these people wouldn't even understand the concept of a Bijuu and Jinchuuriki and would fear it just as much.

" **Oh, stop it. That's hardly something to get so worked up about. So you lost someone you were trying to befriend and the people here will hate you. There are more pressing matters to attend to.** "

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, trying to send some anger and resentment back at the fox for being so dismissive of his concerns.

" **It's regarding how you got here.** "

Naruto nearly started bouncing off the walls.

"You know that? I've been trying to talk to you for weeks but about that? What is it? What is this place? What is Remnant? How can I get back home? **"** Naruto began the barrage of questions.

" **Shut up! Shut up, already!** " Kyuubi snarled, not even bothering to roar like the fox usually would have, but still dripping with venom, " **I will tell you what happened.** **I brought us here!"**

The explosion didn't help for a few more seconds, as Naruto took a little time to process what Kyuubi had told him.

"WHAT?!"

Naruto tried to sputter out words beyond that, but ended up having to take a deep breath before continuing.

"You mean to tell me that _you_ brought us to this other dimension..."

" **This isn't another dimension, you fool! You are here because of a coordinated effort by us Bijuu to protect our lives, and yours by extension. The organization Akatsuki was hunting Jinchuuriki, so we took it upon ourselves to simultaneously preserve our hosts in chakra shells, where Akatsuki couldn't get you. It would where off sometime in the future, long after Akatsuki was defunct and the ninja world went under as well. This world of Remnant is not another dimension; it is the future."**

 **"**..."

"..."

"...

"...The _future?_ You're telling me this is the future? That you and your Bijuu pals took everyone I cared about away from me because you were scared of Atatsuki and wanted to protect your own skin? Everyone I knew and loved is now _dead_ , is that what you're saying?"

The Kyuubi was surprisingly quiet. Naruto's voice was calm, but there was a subtle crack in the facade. The explosion happened like a sudden typhoon on what was a sunny day.

"SON OF A BI-"

Naruto burst up from bed, pulling out a kunai and slashing mindlessly at his sheets and mattress, roaring curses as her did so. Sweat began pouring down his brow as he exerted more and more force, dancing around the room with a kunai as he took his anger on anything that would get in the way of his sharp knife.

This went on for over a minute, until much of the fabric-based material in the room was in tatters. The only sound that he could hear was his own panting, before his grip relaxed and the kunai fell to the floor with a soft thud on the plush carpet.

His anger spent for the moment, all Naruto felt was a completely numbness. But as is the case with inactivity, the mind tends to wander. And thinking about the circumstances and see the image of the Kyuubi's smug fox smile in his mind brought him back to the brink of anger.

His fist cracked a hole in the wall not a moment later, and he began punching the same spot rapid fire over and over again, stewing in his rage but not as explosive as it was during the initial reaction.

" **This new wo-** "

"Shut. Up." Naruto seethed, growling out the words through his teeth as he continued on with his routine, content to punch away at the wall until his knuckles were torn and his eyes were bloodshot.

The punches gradually got weaker and weaker, even as the hours of the day waned and he continued doing it. Evening had fallen until he stopped completely, too numb to feeling to even entertain continuing.

He collapsed onto his bed and planted his face into his slashed pillow in despair. His right leg hung limp over the edge of the bed, and all the machinations of his minds over the past several hours had disappeared. He had ruminated enough in his anger and had found no solace, no positives, no way that he could make this look good.

There was a sliver of hope beforehand, that he planned on doing anything in his power to try and find a way home and to get answers. Now that he had gotten his answers, time travel wasn't possible...

"How far?" Naruto asked, his voice heavy but somehow still not resigned to his fate.

" **I don't know. That was what I was going to tell you; I have very little idea how long you were trapped in your shell. We Bijuu entered a state of hibernation after you entered that state, but given the state of his new world I can deduce that you were in there much, much longer than we anticipated."**

"What am I supposed to do now?" Naruto asked.

" **How am I supposed to know? Figure it out. I didn't think moping around was so much in your nature."**

"What would you know? I did this a lot back when I didn't have friends and everyone hated me. If I didn't get out of that hell, I would've turned out just like Gaara did."

That struck a chord deep within him.

"Gaara... That means that Gaara _is_ here, somewhere on Remnant." Naruto went off topic, his thoughts going to his friend and the only other Jinchuuriki he knew personally.

His mind was still going at a mile a minute, so eventually it circled back to his current situation.

"I'm in the future. This would be incredible if it weren't so sad. Hey, fox! You don't happen to know of any jutsu that lets you travel back in time, do ya?" he asked.

" **Of course not...** " Kyuubi grunted, a little curter than normal, " **Such a thing is not possible."**

Naruto grew suspicious.

"Oh, yeah. You're the one who wants to be as far away from the Elemental Countries as possible. You don't want me going back in time and screwing up your plan to run away from Akatsuki. Thanks for the help, furball. Sorry I asked; it was just my desperate attempt to get out of here."

" **...** " Kyuubi hummed in thought, **"You're acting different. Did all that time in that shell mess with your brain or something?** " Kyuubi popped the rhetorical question.

"Just leave me alone. I need to think about what I'm gonna do next," Naruto replied, putting hardly any energy into the response. He laid down on his side, but the Kyuubi deep within Naruto's mindscape frowned.

Their long hibernation had caused some kind of side effect that Kyuubi didn't know the full ramifications of yet. The cage was beginning to deteriorate, but only in little bits of pieces of the metal here and there. It certainly wasn't enough for him to escape, and the Kyuubi entertained no delusions of doing so.

The decay was slow. Gradual. Barely noticeable, even. Also barely noticeable was when his excess chakra leaked into the pool of water below and spread outside the case, it was absorbed by the walls like a sponge.

If there was to be in physical changes in Naruto, it would be a long time before they manifested. But mental changes were beginning to show subtle cracks, while the Kyuubi's own days were filled with slightly less clarity and malice.

* * *

Outside of the room, Cinder had an ear pressed to Naruto's door. She had heard him talking inside, seemingly to himself, but couldn't comprehend the words he was using. She heard the banging of his punches for hours on end, but never stopped listening in.

"What secrets do you hold? Why do you attract the Grimm so much? What are your strange powers?"

Over the past few weeks, Cinder Fall had gotten closer to the enigma that Naruto after he and his friends had made their way into her life. Neptune and Arslan left for Sanctum, but Naruto was the one she had taken an interest in ever since she found the rift that existed between Naruto and Arslan.

She had spent her time teasing the boy, sneaking into his cracks with friendly gestures here and the flirtatious gestures there. And it was working; Naruto turned into a pile of jelly whenever she was near. Her svelte voice made his heart pump and just looking at her sent him into a flurry of infatuation. Not that there was ever any doubt. With her fine features and the boy's hormones, there was no way he couldn't.

He was smitten. Completely infatuated, scarcely able to look at her without becoming a blushing and drooling mess. And she had more than planted the seed that allowed his affection to grow. Sweet little compliments here and there, bending over to give him a good glimpse of her cleavage, brushing her foot up against his leg at the dinner table.

She hadn't prodded, however. She was grooming him up, pushing him in the right direction to make him trust her. Until he would do anything for her; completely under her control.

The other side of the room had fallen silent other than the slight noise of Naruto shuffling around in his bed. Cinder cleared her throat, and raised her hand to knock quietly on the room.

"Naruto? Are you okay?"

There was some shuffling inside as a response to Cinder's call, and Cinder clicked the door open lightly before peering inside. She immediately noticed the room was in tatters, and the lump of a person flopped uselessly upon the ruined mattress.

She closed the door with a light click, sauntering into the dim room lit only by the beams of the setting sun, ready to ensnare her prey.

* * *

And we're done here.

So, I started this chapter off with a look into the future a little bit before circling back to the present day. I debated with myself on doing this for a little while because now you know what's going to happen at least somewhat. So yeah, Tremaine's fate is pretty much sealed, but that's not really a big reveal I was going for so I decided to go this route. How we get there and what happens afterwards to our characters involved is hopefully a bit more ambiguous as we lead up to the big event. I can assure that not everything has been revealed so it won't just be a premature spoiler on my part where you guys are just waiting for what comes after. This is an important moment for Naruto and Cinder's character arc.

Speaking of Cinder, let me nip this in the bud. I'm laying the cliffhanger on thick here and the implications, but this is _not_ the beginning of the ship Naruto/Cinder. that's not happening. This is a negative situation here.

The title is a reference to something; I don't know how many of you will get it. Those who do can probably figure out what's going to happen next.

Chapters have been a little short lately, I'll be trying to make them a little longer in the near future.

 _ **The God of Pikmin**_


	19. Bakeneko

It's a wasteland. A lifeless wasteland of grey rock. It smells like sulfur.

 _-Unknown_

* * *

Chapter 19: Bakeneko

A dim beam of light from the setting sun reflected a glow as she stood on her mother's plush carpet in the middle of the guest room. It accentuated her curves and would force the hormonal teenager in the room to take notice of her.

That was surely enough; she could stand here and Naruto would eventually lift his head to drink in every inch of her flawless body. But she preferred the more direct approach. She was feeling frisky, after all. Why not enjoy what was going to happen, even as she milked him for everything he had, literally and figuratively of course.

She was on the hunt, and Naruto was vulnerable. She didn't know what had happened; the boy from what she could tell was a cheerful child though currently teeming with insecurities. He had been yelling in delicious anguish and made a disaster zone out of his room, seemingly at the drop of a hat. It only fueled Cinder's lustful curiosity that much more.

Naruto had not pulled himself from his pathetic little slump on the bed; he must've not noticed her yet. Strange, she had already called to him once he entered the room. What a cruel mistress despair could be, to not even notice the form of the one standing directly before him.

Cinder wasn't rebuked, however. When she failed to get his attention by standing there, she walked over to the bed slowly, putting a sashay in her wide hips with every step, having made to bear her long legs with the dress she had picked out this morning.

Naruto was sprawled out horizontally on the bed, a torn pillow clutched tightly in his grip as he buried his face in it. He had to have smelled her perfume now that she was in close, and she suppressed a smirk when Naruto seemed slightly tenser than he was a moment ago. Good, he had noticed her.

" _Your secrets will be mine. You will be mine, like a lost puppy bent to my every beck and call._ " She would take what was rightfully hers, when she wanted. And all she had to do was be nice to him, and her prey would never know the difference. He would even be happy with it; who wouldn't be?

It was at that point that the young Fall heiress laid down herself on the bed, her body parallel to Naruto's. And that was what got the boy to raise his head and look at her curiously.

"C-Cinder?" he asked. God, she could practically taste the desperation in his voice. He sounded like a kicked puppy, and now that she finally got a good look at him up close, that hormonal infatuation for her hadn't decreased in the slightest.

Vulnerable.

"What's wrong, Naruto? I hate to see my favorite boy so sad..." she cooed, laying it on thick with the compliments just like she always did when she saw him, "I hope we've been hospitable enough for you..." she pouted, daring Naruto to prove her wrong.

Whatever had been making Naruto so angry, those feelings evaporated after being confronted directly by his precocious crush. His face was heating up when he realized how close she was to him.

"N-No... your and your mom have been incredible to me." he responded.

"Hmm... then what could be going on? You made a mess out of his room; surely you must be upset about something?" she gave a faux gasp, "Don't tell me that you're lonely? Feeling put out because won't be seeing your friends for a while?"

His guard was lowered. Perfect. She had feigned innocence and deliberately started by asking him these non-loaded questions before going in. She needed him to be comfortable around her before she went in for the kill.

"N-No, that's not it, either. I mean, I'm bummed that Neptune and Arslan will be going off to Sanctum and I won't be able to see them much, but I just learned some bad news. I won't be able to go home again."

He was starting to reveal the cracks in his proverbial armor, but it would take a little more prodding on Cinder's part. He was trying to keep up the facade that he was a normal human being, perhaps it was time to reveal to him that she already knew more than he anticipated?

"You poor boy," she said silkily, "You don't have to be so distraught. You have a home here. I don't know much about where you came from, but it mustn't have been a fun place with the way you attract the Grimm."

Naruto froze, looking into her amber eyes with a sense of trepidation. Something was off about the way Cinder was talking to him, but for some reason he couldn't muster up the emotion to care. His mind had been numb for a while, and now he was just listening to her without a care in the world.

"What are you talking about?"

"That girl Arslan is quite talkative about these matters, it seems. That girl is a bad apple. Having such a handsome, selfless friend risk his life for her and in turn she turns out to fear him. It is quite tasteless."

He hadn't even noticed how close their bodies were as Cinder had slinked her way into his very personal space. She raised her arms gently and wrapped her hands around his neck, holding Naruto close to her.

The scent of perfume was overpowering now that he was essentially pressed into her bosom. Her skin was smooth but the hands were cold and clammy on his neck. A little nagging voice of doubt blossomed in the back of his mind, but it was being quashed by the fluttering his heart was doing.

He looked up, seeing Cinder's eyes filled with affection. Her hands tightened on the back of his neck, before she leaned in and forcefully kissed him.

Naruto's mind went blank and his body went rigid, as Cinder leaned deeper into the kiss. A grown woman, one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his life was kissing him.

She was forceful and strong, taking the dominant role as she aggressively pushed into him, but her lips were soft and tender and he felt himself numbly melting into the intimate gesture.

The two of them fidgeted as tried to get more comfortable. Cinder broke off the kiss to allow them both to breathe, before adjusting herself and getting into another deep one right after. She slid the rest of her body. Her dress rubbed against the boy's jumpsuit, and she purposefully and tenderly move her thigh forward to rest elsewhere.

Naruto wasn't oblivious to the machinations. His brain was an addled mixed of confusion and pleasure and hormones and maybe a little fear, and he couldn't help but give in a bit to desire.

Cinder broke the kiss and smiled at him, and although Naruto didn't miss the lack of authenticity in it, he was too much of a mess of emotions to react. Cinder pushed her thigh against him, apparently pleased with herself.

"Do you like that, Naruto? Do you like me?" she asked. Naruto merely sat there dumbfounded as the kisses stopped, but now she was kneading him with her thigh.

"Does this make you feel good, Naruto?" Naruto didn't watch but he could feel her stop rubbing. Her other hand came over to join its twin.

Naruto's mind went numb to what happened next, but a weight pressed down on him and snapped him back to reality when he realized that a grown woman was now straddling him with a knowing look in her eyes.

Drinking it all in, he lied on his back and stared at the ceiling, his face beet red with embarrassment, and focused on his exhilarated breathing.

His leg hairs stood on end when there was a sudden shock of cold air hitting his legs, and the sound of fabric hitting the floor, followed by the shuffling of some other sort of fabric.

He dared to take a peek upwards, and his eyes nearly bugged out at what he was witnessing. Cinder's elegant red dress was falling around her shoulders, revealing her creamy, flawless skin.

The nude woman leaned forward, her large breasts encompassing Naruto's vision before she raised a finger to her lips and gave a low shush. She then slunk off of him, her head moving down farther.

She broke her gaze with him, tilting her face downwards. Naruto watched her, but didn't understand what she was doing until a shock of sensation came over him.

But it was short-lived, and under a minute later Cinder was staring him in the eyes again, a thin rivulet of drool running out of her mouth.

"Do you want more? Do you want to have more of my body? We can do this every day, as long as you do one tiny little thing for me..." she whispered in his ear, her arms once again wrapping around his neck and her breasts pressing themselves against him as the aggressive woman continued to take charge.

She took his silence as an opportunity to continue.

"Tell me your secret. What power are you hiding under that young visage? Why do you attract the Grimm? Tell me your secret, and I will give you everything you ever wanted." she said, her voice husky but not at the thought of what was about to occur. The lust for power in her eyes was obvious to Naruto even in his dazed state.

There was a prick as her fingernails drew blood digging into his shoulder as she pushed down on him more forcefully than she had up to that point. Naruto thrust upward, his daze broken as he registered what was happening. The woman before him was forcing herself on him. She was interested in the Kyuubi; she had made that perfectly clear but framed it in a seductive way, using her good looks and his complicated feelings for her to try and manipulate him.

"Now," she breathed, "Let me make you mine!" she finished, as she slowly lowered herself onto Naruto, digging into his back as she pushed herself onto him. Naruto pushed back harder, his brain alight with fury at the forceful attempts as all affection for Cinder abandoned his mind.

His face contorted into a sneer, his eyes turned blood-red and and his cheek marks deepened. Cinder was in Nirvana, focused on her task at hand and blissfully unaware until a powerful punch hit her in the jaw, more powerful than anything that had ever struck her.

Two white dots that Naruto recognized as teeth flew past his vision as the naked woman was sent hurtling from the bed and off him. Naruto pulled up his boxers and wrapped his jumpsuit around himself, claws digging into the fabric. Cinder had crashed into the wall, slumped over as she hit the ground. She lay there motionless, naked as a jaybird, and Naruto wondered if he had knocked her out until a guttural snarl emanated from her throat.

"Y-You hit me. You hit me in my beautiful face." She lifted her head up, her pupils dilated as she stared at Naruto with a look that promised death. If he wasn't so furious, he may have been aligned to care.

"You stupid boy. I could have given you everything, and you spit in my face! You could've been happy and fruitful by my side, as you did my bidding completely blissful."

Naruto growled, offended by Cinder's delusions of grandeur and lust for power with his Bijuu's chakra fueling his anger. Cinder got to her feet, staring at her reflection in one of the windows. Her jaw dropped as she gingerly raised a hand up to her touch to touch the bruise where Naruto had struck her. He had punched clean through her aura like it was a wet tissue.

Cinder was slowly backing away, having entered the room without her weapons. Naruto wasn't done glaring at her angrily though, a fire erupting in his belly that allowed him to momentarily forget the self-pitying slump that had left him so vulnerable to Cinder's machinations in the first place.

"I want power! And you're going to give me that power!" Cinder accused, but Naruto had risen from the bed and stood up, his clothes torn and hanging off him, revealing the mesh undershirt and Tsunade's necklace. His previous hot anger had boiled over into a cool rage, as he took slow methodical steps toward Cinder. The Kyuubi's red chakra still surrounded him like a shroud, the wild undulations revealing Naruto's anger when his body and expression would not.

"Are you going to kill me? Me? The beautiful only daughter of the Fall family! Men throw themselves at me just to get a chance that I'll look at them. BUT YOU HAD TO BE A SELFISH BRAT! WHATEVER POWER YOU HAVE IS WASTED ON THE LIKES OF YOU! IT BELONGS TO ME; YOU'D BE BETTER OFF MAKING ME POWERFUL!"

A kunai embedded itself in the wall behind Cinder and cut her off. In the straightest throw Naruto had ever made in his life, creating a small cut on Cinder's face in the exact same place where he had punched.

"You're fucking pathetic," Naruto said.

Cinder went rigid, her face sneering and her pupils dilating as something within her seemed to snap even more than she already had.

"Not only do you strike me but you cut me?"

She seemed even more furious for a moment, but as she finally registered what he said her mouth morphed into a twisted sneer.

"They'll never believe you. You can't touch me, because you've grown fond of my mother. Who is everyone going to believe, the dumb kid who just rolled into town, or the heiress to the nobility that everyone adores! I could have you chased out of the kingdom right now!"

Naruto halted, and he matched Cinder's sneer.

"Kill me, and the kingdom will be out for your blood."

"You bitch..."

"I wanted to be nice to you, but you're making it very difficult. Now, you will tell me about this wonderful power that you have graciously put on display for me, or I will go to the authorities and weave a tale of the misfit boy who dared lay a hand on Mistral's gem. What will it be, keep living the luxurious life, or be forced to run away lest you rot in a jail cell?"

"A place where I'll be away from you, and where this sweet, sweet power that you want so badly will be out of your reach!" Naruto spat, placing a hand on his seal for emphasis.

Cinder's face fell.

"You little _brat!_ You seem real intent on getting on my bad side!" she roared, face twisting into such a scowl that it made the normally beautiful woman look repugnant.

He had called Cinder's bluff and Cinder had backed him into a corner with her influence. It was a stalemate that eighteen months ago Naruto would've already thrown consequences to the wind and rushed the woman.

"Get the hell out of here!" Naruto demanded.

"You'll wish you never crossed me, brat. At your most vulnerable, I will be there. And I will be a lot less friendly. I will force you to the ground and make you lick my feet before you submit that damn power of yours to me!"

Cinder hadn't brought her weapon, and Naruto could tell she wasn't entirely confident in beating him even if she had, especially if he was using the Zero-tailed state.

She slowly backed out of the room after pulling up her dress and making herself decent, leaving Naruto to stew in his anger and disgust by himself in the ruined room.

* * *

Tensions ran high in the household from that point on, though the head herself seemed blissfully unaware of what was transpiring between her daughter and the boy she was sponsoring for tournaments.

Part of Naruto was worried that she would just out him as the one who had punched her, spinning some woven tale about how she was the victim of an assault. But that never happened, and Naruto didn't have to hightail it out of there.

They had coexisted toxicly for some time after the incident in a cold war of sorts, both brewing in their enmity for the other. From what he could tell, the only reason Cinder hadn't outed him was because she was still curious about the power that slept deep within him, that she wanted to use for herself.

Ever since the hostile warning, Naruto had been on edge. Sleeping with one eye open, wondering what Cinder was going to do to make good on her promise. Luckily, they didn't interact much. Naruto was usually in the servant's quarters, having meals with them while Cinder had her meals in the formal dining room with her mother.

That morning though was a little bit different. Tremaine had invited him to breakfast that day, the day he would have his first tournament match. The fourteen year old sat as far away from Cinder as humanly possible.

Throughout all of this, Tremaine seemed remarkably oblivious of the rift that had formed. She asked Naruto if he was excited for his first match like any good caretaker would, and when the tense breakfast was finally over Naruto couldn't wait to get out of the house.

"Thank you for the meal, mother." Cinder said in such a clipped and disrespectful tone that he doubted anyone that heard would feel that she truly appreciated it. After that, she got up from the breakfast table without another word, face set into a deep scowl as she disappeared to do god knew what.

"That girl, I swear..." Tremaine said, shaking her head as one of the servants took her finished plate from her. She turned to the boy who remained at her table.

"Don't you think it's time for you to get going? I'll be watching from the box seats with some of the other nobles; knock em' dead! Not literally, of course!" the noblewoman said.

The two of them left the house not long after that, Tremaine's damper mood over her daughter seeming to fade as they got out into the morning air. When they arrived at the arena, she bid Naruto farewell at an elevator that would take her to her suite where she would mingle with all the other nobles.

Naruto on the other hand, was directed straight to the locker rooms by arena personnel. He couldn't help but feel butterflies rise in his stomach, even if he had been in this scenario before at the Chuunin Exams.

This arena was a lot bigger than the one in Konoha, and already the people were filing into their seats hours before the matches began. He sat by himself in the locker room with the other fighters as he pulled his clothes on. He loved his orange jumpsuits, but honestly he was glad to be out of those since he had been wearing the same one for weeks on end. The moment he was taken into Tremaine's custody he was all but forced to get a new set of clothes.

His combat uniform was an orange tailcoat with multiple black lines etched into the fabric like a spiderweb. It fit comfortably but snugly on his body and allowed for quite a bit of breathability.

As he got dressed, he would occasionally steal glances around at the other people in the room, and he noticed some of them were doing the same. It was actually quite the colorful mix of characters, with some of the people here being older than he expected.

Most of the people here weren't as rough looking as the average shinobi, but that didn't stop the majority of them giving him the evil eye as he went about his business.

He felt someone tap him on his right shoulder, and immediately turned to his left. He wasn't going to fall for that old trick, and he leveled a glare at the person next to him who did it.

The first thing he noticed was that it wasn't a finger that had poked him, but instead a tail. A monkey faunus three lockers down had reached across his shoulder and tried to prank him.

"Damn! You're good!"

The cheeky grin on his face even reminded him of a monkey, as the faunus' tail swung back around from where it had came. Upon closer look, the boy seemed even younger than himself, around the age where he would just be starting combat school akin to Neptune and Arslan.

Some of the older and definitely more experience tournament vets started to mumble to themselves under their breath, no doubt less than flattering things.

"Haven't seen those two around before. Rookies for the new season, probably."

"They ain't the only ones. Wonder which of them will get weeded out before all is said and done."

A bell rang out in the locker room, signifying the time for registration. Naruto slammed his locker door shut, attaching his weapons pouch to his hip as he walked past the monkey faunus.

He gave the shinobi a cheeky grin, but because of Naruto's nerves he didn't return it. He didn't know why he was having such an aversion to Sun's personality and his harmless prank.

The waiting room was just as tense as the locker room, if not more so. As a rookie, he had gone through orientation a while back where the arena officials explained the rules to him.

The regional tournaments were split into three different classifications, based on the frequency of the events and the prestige. Each one had its own set of rules and number of draws, from eight to sixty-four participants. D1 tournaments were the annual and semi-annual galas that attracted the nobility and scouts from the huntsman academies. He would be starting in D3, the qualifiers. Should he earn his keep in D3 tournaments, he could be dumped up into the standard D2 tournaments.

The draws were made up once the deadline for registration passed, and once the day of the tournament the draw would be put on a hologram monitor in the waiting room while the first match proceeded. The participants could view the matches on a screen next to the draw while they waited for their match.

Naruto was currently doing just that, watching the first match go underway while he waited for his turn. He only watched the first match half-heartedly, not really paying attention to who was on screen.

That seemed to be the case with the other fighters that had taken to staying in the waiting room. Instead, their eyes were trained on a holographic display next to the one showing the D3 tournament they were to participate in.

This opposing footage was of a D1 tournament going on concurrently in another arena. The bout going on there was apparently interesting enough for these fighters to "ooh" and "ahh" at everything that happened.

When Naruto turned to look at the screen for the very first time, his eyes met with a flash of red and gold, and he found out why everyone was so enraptured by the fight going on.

The D1 tournament was showing a fight between a burly man with a hammer and a tall girl who looked to be about his age. The man was pretty unmemorable other than his size, but the girl had brilliant red hair and was dressed in equally beautiful golden armor. And that was just her appearance. The way she moved on the battlefield couldn't help but draw eyes onto her. It was like she and her opponent were in an interpretative dance as they sashayed across the battlefield, her reacting perfectly to her opponent's rhythm while somehow still being in complete control of the fight.

There was something about this that Naruto couldn't place. Some kind of trick to what the girl was doing.

The audience on the screen watching the fight seemed just as mesmerized, but when the girl finally took down her opponent it erupted into a mountain of cheers.

The girl gave a kind if not bashful smile and put away her weapon, a magnificent golden javelin. She then bowed to her opponent and to the crowd, staring into the camera and giving a smile that made a celebrity.

He hadn't even been paying attention, and when Naruto snapped out of his surroundings he realized that the roar of his own crowd was getting louder. Two fighters had already been called while he was standing around watching.

One by one, the fighters in the waiting room dwindled as they were called in pairs up to the main stage over the loudspeakers. With the numbers decreasing, the tension in the room continued to mount with the remaining fighters.

All of that was lost on the monkey boy he had encountered earlier, especially when his name was called. He bounded to the elevator the moment his name was called with way too much energy.

It once again reminded Naruto of himself, before all this nonsense. His memories told him he was a prankster, headstrong and talkative. But in the short weeks he had been here, it seemed like he was slowly losing himself.

It scared him; it was almost like the thought of not being himself anymore. The personality shifts, the random memories from someone else in his mind, the emotional instability and mood swings, and no doubt the baggage from the what happened with Cinder. He felt lost even in his own mind.

" _This place... I can't stay here. No matter what, I have to get back. And then, everything will be back to normal..._ "

Over the loudspeakers, his name was called.

* * *

Yugito looked out the windows as the airships brought the students down on the campus grounds for the first day back to school. As the deputy headmistress, she was supposed to teach combat classes. The thought of teaching these kids didn't exactly excite her, but to keep up a pretense of normal life she had read the curriculum and knew what to expect.

She was only annoyed at the fact that she couldn't spend all her time pouring over her true objective.

The transformed kunoichi took one final look at the empty halls before they would be flooded with students. Daily meetings with her boss had gotten nowhere, and eavesdropping had yielded no fruit yet.

She certainly hadn't come here to teach, but she didn't actually have much information on what she was looking for. She knew the circumstances in which she found herself in from conversing with her Bijuu. All of a sudden, she was saddling with the most difficult mission of her life, one not even assigned to her by Kumogakure and yet one that had the odds stacked against her the most.

Her encounter with fellow Jinchuuriki Han in the countryside confirmed what she needed to do.

The Gobi Jinchuuriki had creeped her out; emotionless and clad in his mushroom-like armor.

But his eyes spoke of experience, and he told her what was what. He was very cryptic about it, but she now knew that this future world's kingdoms were harboring a powerful secret. Secret brotherhoods, conspiracies, and most importantly: ancient power.

To make a long story short, Yugito knew that the interconnected governments and schools were hiding a great secret, and this great secret was something that the an opposing faction and the huntsman academies were fighting over.

That was all that Han had told her. Despite traveling with a woman that had once been very closely knit with these matters, that was apparently all he knew at the moment.

Today was her first opportunity to butter herself up to her new boss, and then maybe he would start slowly revealing his secrets to her. A little bit of eavesdropping could go a long way too.

She rapped on the door to Professor Lionheart's office, as her ears picked up the sound of another airship landing on the campus grounds with what was no doubt another group of students.

"Come in..." a muffled male voice said from the other side of the door. Yugito gave a light smirk before turning the knob and entering the headmaster's office. Her new boss was seated at his desk, pouring over his paperwork. She would have to interact with him daily if she was to get closer to her goal, but how to do so without arousing suspicion.

She was impersonating the headmistress of the academy; who's to say that she wasn't already in on whatever conspiracy was happening with this world's schools?

"Ah, Professor Liddell. It is good to see you back on the school grounds. If this is about the weekly meetings, I'm afraid that I've moved them to Thursdays instead this semester."

"Ah, yes. Of course, sir..." Yugito said, just going along with the conversation. She could only pick up so much on Liddell's personality from gleaning the personal items she had written in her home, but she imitated her the best she could and hopefully it would be enough to fool these non-shinobi.

Lionheart didn't seem to notice at first glance, but she could not slip up.

"Is there anything you wanted?"

"Ah yes. I wanted to talk to you about the "special information"." she said.

Lionheart's eyes widen with surprise for a moment, before he folded his hands on the desk.

"Ah, yes. I'm sorry I couldn't have given you enough time to process that information. I'm sure you couldn't properly prepare your lesson plans after hearing it. I thought you were too young to become a member of the special order, but Ozpin appeared to believe otherwise."

"Yes. It was all very much to take in. I didn't think such things could exist in this world."

"An all too common reaction. I know it was mine when I first got roped into this. Our enemies... they are dormant at the moment but that does not mean that Salem isn't planning every single step to secure the Relics. She will use any means to try and divide us. We don't know who be coming out of the woodwork on her side, but the Spring Maiden disappeared years ago and we have no idea if or when the others will be attacked."

Yugito didn't do anything other than nod obediently, for it turned out that she really was in on the inner circle of these conspiracies, as Yugito suspected she might be. Lionheart was giving her information on a silver platter; the only thing missing was context.

Salem was obviously the name of some enemy of these schools and governments. Relics were the item that Salem was seeking, for what reason Yugito didn't know. Maidens had some role in this all, but they were a means to an end in order to get these so-called relics.

She was getting the information, but she still didn't have the context she needed in order to piece everything together. Patience was a virtue, and she had all the time in the world to subtly squeeze information out of this headmaster.

"Well, I better not take up more of your time." Yugito said, "Have a long day of lessons to teach now that the students are back. Have a good day, Professor Lionheart."

Lionheart didn't seem to suspect a thing, so far.

"Likewise."

* * *

Yeahhh... I went there.

I honestly debated putting this scene in here. It's pretty grisly, and I have done some dark things in the past that looking back seemed to be more dark and edgy for the sake of being dark and edgy. Honestly, only time will tell if I've kicked that habit and this actually serves a believable purpose, but I hope it was uncomfortable and you don't get any wrong ideas from it. I actually struggled with this chapter quite a bit to find the right balance of detail. In the end it's mostly implications.

I shouldn't have to say this, but this story is not NarutoxCinder. The main point of that scene was to establish the two as enemies; Cinder thought she could manipulate him and almost succeeded.


	20. Regionals

_The food hasn't gotten better. I don't think it ever will._

 _-Unknown_

* * *

Chapter 20: Regionals

The parties of the nobility of Mistral were something to behold. Although Atlas was the wealthiest of the kingdoms, Mistral had a thriving cultural scene, and nothing in the world of Remnant more exemplified the difference in social status between the haves and the have nots. They were usually held on the top floor of one of Mistral's extravagant manors in the upper district, with forbidden delights shut out to all the commoners of the kingdom.

Even with the extravagance, Cinder managed to still be the center of attention in a crowd of noblewomen who had spent a small fortune in order to make themselves pretty after the flow of time had stolen that from them.

Beautiful women were not at all uncommon at Mistrali parties. Half of them were nothing more than prettied up high-class prostitutes, if one of them wasn't born into a noble family. They married into one of the families or otherwise used their looks to gain social ground.

Like anything involved with money and power, Mistral parties were a symbol of the seedy underbelly that existed within a society. Drugs, sex, and discussions of white-collar crime were at the center of many parties, backrooms established to entertain guests with pleasure, excess, and debauchery. Wealthy people and those with status were above the law, after all.

Cinder enjoyed the parties, and not just because she upheld the image of a Mistral socialite. This was the place where she built her reputation. These parties were where the sons of nobility and even the older noblemen themselves were at their weakest, primed for someone to dig a sharp fingernail in their back in the throes of pleasure and manipulate them.

This time around Cinder just sat there, bored. She was not in the mood to enjoy the party. Her well-manicured nails drummed against her wine glass periodically. She was dissatisfied with controlling the Mistral locals, nobility or no. Becoming a huntress was an avenue for power that she could take into her own hands, but that was becoming a disillusionment as well, after seeing Naruto's secret power on display. What had she been doing lately?

A masculine voice broke her out of her thoughts. A dapper young man was standing there beside her, extending his hand to her and trying so hard to remain confident. She crossed one leg over the other, keying in on the small whispered sigh he gave after the view she so graciously allowed him to see.

A coy smirk appeared on her lips as the veneer of confidence shattered; at least she could still enjoy the feeling of controlling men with her body, though maybe that was just relief that she could still find some success after the failure from the other night.

She placed a hand in his daintily, allowing herself to get swept off her feet onto the dance floor as if she were some lamb-like damsel.

Cinder was well-versed in the Mistral etiquette, and right now was a sort of slow waltz. She and the young nobleman took the dance floor, his name escaping her at the moment as it did for a lot of the nobility.

His hand went to her hip and she melted into the rhythm, taking the lead into the slow dance. He couldn't stop looking at her face, transfixed by her features. As she led him into the dance, she allowed him to touch her, and his hands trembled as they ran all over her body, even in this non-intimate dance.

They moved with the other dancing couples, and when they were finished an older man came and squeezed the boy's shoulder, and the dancing of the pair halted. She looked at the other nobleman, and recognized him as the young nobleman's father. He broke with her and sent his father a dirty look, slumped over and thoroughly put out but without a thing he could do.

Cinder grinned on the inside but feigned ignorance and regarded the older nobleman with the same coy, aloof smile that she gave his son. One would think that the older man would be more difficult to manipulate, but it was often the case that they were just as easily malleable as youth, perhaps even more so.

She took the initiative this time, once again reaching out a dainty hand. This nobleman took it in a firmer grip, with much more confidence. Good, it would be sweeter to break it. The music picked up, and they began to move in a more energetic dance. His hand rested on her hip as they undulated to the beat. He didn't even wait for approval like his son had.

He twirled her, and her short hair whipped around as her shoulder faced the nobleman, and she leaned in close after the spin, her body pressing into his and her hair tickling his nostrils. By now, he should've been intoxicated by her scent.

His hand was slowly moving away from her hip in a way he no doubt thought was subtle, but it was resting on her ass soon enough. She pretended not to notice as she flexibly hiked her leg over his shoulder and forced his other hand to catch her. She was flashing him, with the way her dress showed, and he definitely saw.

She had him exactly where she wanted him, completely lust-addled and not thinking clearly. She broke her hold with the older man and began sashaying, bumping her hip against his pelvis as she passed him.

Her head turned to regard him, and she winked at him before gesturing for him to follow.

Manors like these had a multitude of backrooms, guest rooms, and dens for situations like this. The older nobleman passed into the room eagerly, and she shut the door behind him before locking it. She sauntered over to the bed, the nobleman's eyes following her for approval as if she wasn't thirty years his junior.

She opened the drawer on the nightstand, finding the contents to be a few white pills, a syringe, and some powder as well as a few condoms underneath it all. She closed the drawer; there would be no need for any of that.

She began undoing her dress, and made sure the old nobleman lost himself in ecstasy. The rest was a blur as they found themselves on the bed.

Cinder's hair fell around her shoulders as she stared numbly at the top of the ceiling. The nobleman was straddling her, thrusting into her roughly as she panted with every burst. She bit her lip lasciviously as she let out another moan.

They moved in perfect rhythm with one another during the sex, and she allowed him to finish in her. He may have been on Cloud Nine being allowed to have sex with someone like her, but he was not thinking about the aftermath.

She had allowed him a little bit of heaven, only to forever pull that heaven from his grasp from that point on. He was a married man, too. But, what would he be willing to do in order to taste her sweet flesh that he would never again experience?

Give him a taste, enjoy herself, and then have him pine after her for that point on while she forever kept herself out of reach. That was what Cinder did to these people, and they never had any idea until it was too late.

The soiree continued even after their dirty deeds were done. No one seemed to notice or care about what went on in one of the back rooms, and Cinder was able to mingle with the crowd and effectively lose sight of her one-time lover.

"Having fun, are we?" a low, disdainful voice hissed in her ear. She turned around in a flash, not used to being successfully snuck up on. Standing behind her was none other than one of her mother's associates.

"Watts," she growled. The Atlesian scientist wasn't exactly a Mistralian nobleman, but as one of the top scientists in his kingdom he was invited to high social events all over the world. He had connections in places she could only dream of.

"Oh, don't give me that look. It's not worn well by some noblewoman's brat who thinks she's the creme-de-le-creme." he said, staring down his mustache at her.

"What do you want?" she asked curtly. He was one of the few people who could see through the facade she wore, probably because he was just as big a sociopath as she was. Was it any wonder why she didn't like him?

"You seemed crabbier than usual. I saw you seduce that weak-minded older gentleman, but you weren't manipulating everyone around you with the same zest as you would at some of these other parties."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Megalomania doesn't suit you, my dear, yet here you are with it anyway."

Cinder gave an unamused humming noise.

"Are you finally unsatisfied staying in this kingdom, training as a huntress? You told me about how you wished to become one. You didn't say any reasons but I can read between the lines. Being a benefit to humanity isn't exactly your forte."

"I don't understand why you are so interested. It has nothing to do with you... Now, did you just come here to insult me, or did you actually want something?" Cinder replied.

"Au contraire. My mistress, that is the one that I work for; she has had her eye on you for quite some time. She is looking for someone who wants power, massive power, and someone tenacious enough to do anything to get it. She had a role for all of us, you see. Personally, I believe she wants to pass on a very special gift to the one she seeks, in due time of course."

Cinder looked away.

"Your mistress? I don't have any interest in that, toiling away for an unseen figure. How do I know your mistress is not a lowly mob boss or a mere huntress gone wrong? The kingdoms may be stifling, but compared to them, what else is there?"

"You will come to know in due time. Yet regardless, my mistress is one who can cast off the shackles of the kingdom's laws and rules. You can obtain power and not hide your true self, no longer needing to perform such... degrading acts. Take control of your destiny with one quick act!" Watts tutted, and leveled her with a piercing stare.

"Unless you are satisfied to remain here, working as a huntress for someone else's own ends and sleeping with sleazy old noblemen to get ahead in life."

Cinder and Watts moved onto the dance floor, the former glaring at the latter as she offered her hand.

"I saw real power, but it was one that escaped my grasp. That's why I'm tired of this place," she said as they began to move with the music. Watts wrinkled his mustache curiously and raised an eyebrow at the seemingly unrelated tangent.

"One month from Thursday, be at your family's chateau. Our mistress wishes to extend you an offer. Trust me, you will receive this real power you seek. I don't know what it is you saw, but my mistress is the definition of power."

Cinder looked affronted.

"Why should I trust you?" she asked.

Watts just wrinkled his mustache again.

"You don't; in fact my mistress would be most disappointed if you did. But believe me, I have only extended you the initial offer. My mistress will take it upon herself that you are aware of her presence, and when you are, your entire worldview _will_ be changed."

Cinder appeared at a loss for words. She had no expectations about that, but there was a little nagging voice in the back of her mind that was telling her to accept. Either way, it was written all over her face as Watts could clearly see it.

"Just something to think about. Now, do enjoy the rest of this party, Cinder." Watts said nonchalantly, chuckling to himself lightly before leaving to go grab a drink from the refreshments table.

* * *

Naruto watched as the elevator's numbers lit up sequentially as he was brought from the locker room to the arena floor. Even in the elevator, he could hear the sounds of the crowd outside, hundreds of people waiting for children to beat the snot out of each other in a sanctioned match for their entertainment.

Eh, better that than the Chuunin Exams, where one could actually witness someone die in a match. The elevator halted, finishing its job of bringing him from the locker rooms and barracks below to the main stadium on the surface. He was in the fighter's elevator; that would take him straight to the ring itself.

There was a ding as the elevator opened its doors. He had seen the picture of his opponent and a name on the virtual bracket in the locker room, but without any context to the opponent's style that was pretty much useless. The rules had been explained to him during his orientation.

The elevator's door opened slowly with a lurch, depositing him into a low balcony below the seats with a staircase that also reminded him of the arena in Konoha when he was taking the Chuunin Exams.

He made his way down the staircase, and hovering above the playing field of the arena he could see another screen that was displaying the "stats" of him and his opponent.

His opponent was a kid, much like himself and not one of the musclebound adults that made up a portion of the tournament pool. He was making his way in from the other side in a similar setup, and he carried himself like a rookie who had never fought in one of these before. When they got down into the dirt and sand of the arena floor, he could make out features for the first time.

He was a boy around his age dressed in what looked like typical Mistralian garb. His scruffy black hair fell to around his neck, while he wielded a bo staff strapped to his back.

Naruto vs. Bolin Hari. Those were the words displayed on the monitor overhead. There were no officials on the field, but the announcer was taking note of the rules and he could sense armed security remaining just out of sight if things got too ugly. But basically, all he had to do was get that green bar of his opponent's into the red, or alternatively knock him out of the ring.

He obviously had to avoid the same happening to him, but he didn't even have aura.

What was their technology tracking, then? Chakra? Chakra wasn't exactly a measure of a person's life force. In a way, he was more vulnerable to attack than these people of the future. In his contemplation, he had stopped paying attention and hadn't heard the buzzer sound overhead. He sidestepped a strike from Bolin's bo staff on pure instinct, jolting him from his stupor. The cheers from the crowd resounded as the match went underway.

Naruto leapt to put some distance between himself and his opponent while Bolin twirled his staff around showfully. The staff impacted the ground as Bolin swung it forward, creating a small crater in its wake.

Win the fight without using ninjutsu and without letting anyone know he didn't have aura. It was a handicap alright, but maybe it could be fun to win like that? If they knew he didn't have aura, they probably wouldn't let him compete.

He reached into his pouch and tossed three shuriken, to which Bolin dodged to the side. Naruto pivoted his foot; the bo staff struck the ground downward right next to his ankle. Naruto danced with the quick strikes from Bolin for a little while, as it became clear that his opponent was trying to take out his ankles.

Rather than get felled by the bo staff, Naruto tensed the muscles in his legs and locked the weapon in place between them, making it impossible for Bolin to pull it out.

Bolin grunted, a little surprised that Naruto had the leg strength to be able to do such a thing. Naruto jumped very slightly into the air, unlocking Bolin's weapon from between his legs.

He kicked Bolin soundly in the gut, sending him flying back around ten feet. As he long, slipped the toe of his boot underneath the bo staff, lifting it into the air and into Naruto's hands.

He twirled it around in an imitation of Bolin, as the other boy moaned in pain before getting to his feet. Naruto stole a glance at the scoreboard overhead; that last strike had taken off about ten percent of Bolin's aura while his was still perfect.

"Man, you hit hard..." Bolin groaned, before he finally realized he was without his weapon, "What the? Hey!" he cried as he witnessed Naruto fiddling with his weapon.

Naruto rolled his eyes before he tossed it into the air. As it came back down to earth, his leg snapped out and he kicked the very end of the bo staff, sending it hurtling forward in a perfect spiral.

Bolin gasped, completely unprepared for the unorthodox method of fighting and the speed that his own weapon was traveling towards him at. It barreled into his stomach, rotating at a frequency that was enough to chip slowly away at his aura as it propelled him back.

Naruto watched as the green aura fell slowly into the yellow, but he wouldn't even have to make the aura drop any further because Bolin cleared the very edge of the ring and fell roughly into the dirt outside.

The crowd erupted into cheers as Bolin hit the deck, as his name and picture on the screen faded to black, confirming Naruto's victory. The cheers continued to rock the stadium as Naruto felt all eyes on him, from the low-level bleachers up to the noble's suites up about halfway into the stands. It was quick, but it was a dominant, one-sided display and a total victory.

The official came forward and raised Naruto's arm to the sky, in the midst of all the cheers. Naruto gave a bashful laugh at the positive reception as the clapping began to slowly decrease in volume, but regardless, the fight had created a buzz in the atmosphere.

It was just a low-level tournament with very bigwigs, but a few more of those and the chatter would begin.

* * *

Dr. Nero Stromboli locked the door behind him, heading into the room that he had been working tirelessly in for the past few months. He placed his regular coat on the rack and grabbed his lab coat, ready for another day of work. The lab was silent, as he had restricted access to it from everyone in the facility, much to their chagrin.

He supposed he should thank the frugality of the Atlesian council; he was the only one here researching this phenomenon without a team of research assistants to help him and therefore determine the secrets of this fossil.

"Looks like another day of just you and me, my friend," he talked to the mummified man as if Bee could hear him.

This was the greatest discovery in the history of archaeology, and the Kingdom of Atlas was never going to know about it. Neither were the other three kingdoms.

He could see it now. Endless arguments and disbelief from the scientific community, violence from certain religious circles and faunus groups. The Atlesian government would likely try and cover it up anyway while trying to find some way to incorporate it into military power. In reality, there was no more work to be done. His most amazing discovery about the fossil had come yesterday and allow him to come to a conclusion.

After numerous tests, Stromboli had come to two surprising conclusions in addition to the fossil's startling age. One, Stromboli discovered that the individual inside the crystal-like structure was alive. The material surrounding him put him in a death-like state but preserved all his essential life functions and halted the aging and decay process to a standstill.

That enough was alone in being the discovery of the century. When he put the crystal behind the x-ray, he made his second discovery about the mysterious ancient.

The first clue should have been the fossil's age, but further inspection revealed he was different than _homo sapien_ , the humans, or even _homo_ _animalis_ , the faunus.

This was a form of ancient man that was a different species entirely. A form of ancient man that predated the earliest form of hominids by eons. And the proof that he was separate from humans or faunus was the odd, second circulatory system that ran concurrently to the fossil's blood vessels.

What it was for, Stromboli didn't know. There was a strange energy being transported through this second circulatory system that he at first thought was aura, but further inspection disproved this theory.

 _Homo spiramis_ , that was the scientific name he was giving this new species. Not that he was going to tell those old relics on the council.

One week later, Atlas' third most accomplished scientist was standing in front of the council to give his results.

" _So, in conclusion, the artifact we picked up is a fascinating specimen. It appears to be a mummy created down in the mines of Ancient Mantle, some two thousand years ago._ " Stromboli said to the committee.

* * *

Yeah, yeah, I know. Been a real long time. I'm sorry that it's been so long since I updated this.

Fortunately, I'm actually written the first draft of this story up to Chapter 28. Just need to edit and add a little bit of meat onto the fight scenes and some other places and they should be good to go.


End file.
